Arsenal News
Martinelli Learns the Hard Edge of Arteta’s Arsenal
Martinelli faces an unforgiving reality as Arteta reshapes Arsenal and questions over treatment grow.
Gabriel Martinelli has found out how uncompromising Mikel Arteta can be when the Arsenal manager decides a player no longer fits the direction of travel.
Arteta has long carried a hard edge, something Neil Banfield once noted when reflecting on the coach’s temperament. “He’s got a bit of Arsène about him,” Banfield said of Arteta during an interview with The Athletic . “The similarities are in the character they are. You don’t mess with them.”
Martinelli is the latest to discover that. After reportedly resisting the club’s attempts to move him on this summer, he was left out of matchday preparations. That situation was then deepened by his Community Shield oversight and, more recently, by his omission from the matchday squad for Friday’s Premier League opener against Coventry City.
Arteta has made clear that change is part of the job. “We all know, everything has a start and has an end,” he said earlier this week when discussing departures of established players. He also stated: “We need to bring more skill and quality to the squad.” For a winger built on pace rather than subtlety, Martinelli appears to have been caught in that shift.
His best scoring season came in 2022-23, when Arsenal were still able to exploit space before rivals settled into deeper defensive shapes. In recent seasons, though, that space has largely disappeared. “There’s no space to run,” Arteta said at the time. “When you’re sitting in traffic, I want to go 100 miles an hour but I have three buses and 55 taxis and motorbikes around me, so it’s tricky.”
Last season, Martinelli managed only 11 Premier League starts and scored once. With Arsenal seeking to raise funds and already carrying Christos Tzolis and Eberechi Eze, plus the possibility of another left winger arriving, his future has come under obvious pressure.
Arteta has handled difficult exits before, including Mesut Özil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Bernd Leno and Aaron Ramsdale. In this case, however, some supporters feel the process has been too blunt.
“You need to face that reality,” Arteta said. “But you need to face it with real honesty and transparency because when you are on the other side, that’s exactly what you need. You might not like what you’ve been told, but if it’s truthful, if it’s the reality, if it’s honest and it’s going to help you to make better decisions and have more clarity for the next steps in your career, you have to do that. These are always very difficult conversations, but they need to be done.”
Ian Wright, though, said Martinelli has “not been spoken to” and “doesn’t know what’s going on.” He added: “With respect to Martinelli and the way Martinelli’s been treated at the moment, it really makes me feel uncomfortable,” before stressing, “He always gives 100%—not saying he’s the greatest—he’s really come up with some big moments for Arsenal, some big games and scored some very important goals.
“The way he’s been treated at the end here … there’s ways of doing that, and it should suit him as well.”
Arsenal
Arsenal Complete Konsa Deal as Jersey Number Confirmed
Arsenal have signed Ezri Konsa, adding defensive depth, versatility and proven Premier League quality.
Arsenal have sealed the signing of Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa, with the fee understood to be around £51 million ($69.4 million). The England centre-back arrives as the club continue to strengthen their squad for the 2026/27 season, adding depth to a defence that has already carried much of Arsenal’s recent success.
Konsa gives the squad extra cover across the back line. He can operate both at centre-back and at right-back, having also filled that role for England against Norway in the World Cup quarterfinals. That versatility is one of the key reasons Arsenal moved for him, particularly with William Saliba and Jürrien Timber currently injured.
Speaking after signing a long-term contract, Konsa said: “I’m super excited. It’s a privilege to be here and can’t wait to get started,” Konsa told club media after signing a long-term contract. “I want to keep winning, I’m hungry to win and that’s what I’m here for. It’s a proud moment for me and my family to play for one of the best teams in the world.”
He also spoke about the team’s defensive mindset. “The chemistry they have, they all want to defend for each other, the love they have for defending, they love keeping the ball out of the net which is what you have to do as a defender,” Konsa said of his new teammates.
“But I just love the way they are together. What they’ve built over the past few years has been special.”
On his own style, he added: “I like to build up from the back and I like to have a lot of the ball. It’s Mikel’s style and from what I’ve seen from games, it’s the same way the defenders here play. So hopefully I can add a little bit more,” he added, speaking about his personal playing style.
“It’s good being versatile. I can do both jobs, right back and center back, but for me ultimately, wherever the manager wants to put me is, I’ll always do a job and do my best.”
Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta described the signing as a major addition, while Unai Emery and Rio Ferdinand also offered positive remarks about the defender. Konsa’s jersey number has also been revealed as he begins the next stage of his career in north London.
Arsenal News
Arsenal’s Lewis-Skelly stance meets the club’s sale policy
Lewis-Skelly wants to stay at Arsenal, but the club’s stance on a sale has kept the speculation alive.
Myles Lewis-Skelly may have made his preference plain, but the conversation around his future has not gone away. The teenager, who has been linked with Premier League interest, says he wants to stay at Arsenal. Yet the club’s own hierarchy have left the door open to a sale if the terms are right.
Lewis-Skelly was brought back into the side late last season and quickly played a part in a successful finish, as Arsenal claimed their first Premier League title in 22 years and came close to lifting the Champions League for the first time. He has also continued to show why he is viewed so highly. In Sunday’s 3-0 Community Shield win over Manchester City, he started in midfield alongside new arrival Bruno Guimarães and provided the pass for Riccardo Calafiori’s opener.
The Hale End graduate has been at the club since he was 8, and he made his position clear after scoring against Como in pre-season. On Tuesday, he repeated that message on Arsenal’s Live X broadcast.
“Personally, I feel ready,” Lewis-Skelly said on Arsenal’s Live X broadcast on Tuesday. “We’ve got an amazing squad. And I feel like, as a team, there are more things in the air at the moment. We all have the same common goal.
“You know what we want from the season, and I feel like everyone’s kind of buying into that again. So yeah, we’re ready, we’re excited.”
That optimism, however, has been tempered by comments from above. Chief executive Richard Garlick said Arsenal are not actively looking to move on Lewis-Skelly or Ethan Nwaneri, but would examine the right proposal.
“I think it’s just a case of looking at what opportunities there are that will help both of those in terms of their career moving forward,” he told BBC Sport’s Dan Roan. “We are not actively looking at selling those homegrown players, but if the right opportunity came up—right for them and the club—we’d obviously consider that.”
Nwaneri, who was not in the Community Shield squad, has drawn interest from AC Milan, Galatasaray and several Premier League clubs. Reports have suggested Arsenal could entertain bids around $61 million, with the accounting value of a homegrown sale also seen as a factor.
Arsenal
Lewis-Skelly’s Midfield Future Puts Arsenal Decision Under the Microscope
Lewis-Skelly’s Arsenal future is now a midfield dilemma, with minutes and position both in question.
Myles Lewis-Skelly has reached a defining point in his young career, with Arsenal now needing to decide where his long-term future lies.
Mikel Arteta hinted back in May that the answer may have arrived later than it should have. After Lewis-Skelly excelled in midfield during a 3-0 win over Fulham, the Arsenal manager reflected: “Maybe I should have done it earlier,”
That view has only strengthened after the teenager’s latest displays. His assist for Arsenal’s first goal in the 3-0 Community Shield win over Manchester City stood out for its quality, delivered with the kind of assurance usually associated with much more seasoned players. It was another reminder of what Lewis-Skelly offers.
What seems increasingly obvious is that his best place is in the middle of the pitch. Yet that conclusion creates a problem as much as it solves one. At 19, Lewis-Skelly is now fighting for a role in a part of the team that is heavily congested.
His rise through Arsenal’s academy, which he joined at the age of 8, had long marked him out as a player destined for senior football. He was often compared with close friend Ethan Nwaneri, though Lewis-Skelly’s route to the top always looked certain.
When Arteta first called him into the senior squad in September 2024, Arsenal had no shortage of midfield options. Declan Rice had arrived for $137.5 million (£105 million) a year earlier, Mikel Merino had joined shortly before Lewis-Skelly’s debut, and Martin Ødegaard and Thomas Partey were also part of the group. That led to Lewis-Skelly being used as a left back.
He adapted well there, but eventually convinced Arteta that his true value lies in midfield. “Honestly, I was buzzing,” Lewis-Skelly said of the switch back in May. “Being back in that midfield, getting the trust from the gaffer and the players again, just allows me to play my game and play it simple but also be effective.”
Now the competition is even fiercer. Martín Zubimendi arrived last summer and Bruno Guimarães joined from Newcastle United this year, both vying with Merino and Lewis-Skelly for the spot next to Rice.
The left back position is also no longer an easy fallback, with Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapié ahead of him there. Reports have linked Chelsea and Manchester United with interest, and Lewis-Skelly has spent time at Chelsea’s Cobham academy.
Arsenal do not want to lose him, but the teenager must decide whether staying means accepting a harder battle for minutes, or whether a move elsewhere would offer more immediate chances. Either way, he is no longer just a prospect. He is a player forced to choose his path.
