In a week when Bukayo Saka had already committed himself to a long-term deal at Arsenal, Gabriel Martinelli has quickly followed suit, sending some Arsenal fans into orbit.
Both youngsters have emerged with credit from another underwhelming season at the Emirates Stadium giving hope that the future is bright under Mikel Arteta after all.
The Gunners are still a whopping 40 points behind champions, Liverpool, and will have to fight until the end of the season to ensure that they get a Europa League spot for 2020/21 at the very least.
For the meantime, the supporters are basking in the continued good news.
Man, what a week this has been.
? Saka extension
? Martinelli extension
? Partey interest intensifies
? Auba situation clearerLet’s go! pic.twitter.com/AwLbz9E3VO
— AFTV (@AFTVMedia) July 3, 2020
Gabriel Martinelli’s statistics for Arsenal:
-16 starts
-10 goals
-4 assists
-14 G/ARival fans can disrespect him all they want but Gabriel Martinelli is going all the way to the top?? pic.twitter.com/t1IaKZ71GT
— GoatedGabi® (@YunzAFC) July 3, 2020
Saka extension secured.
Martinelli extension secured.
Arteta is confident that Aubameyang will stay.
A 4-0 win.
Leapfrogging Spurs.
Partey interest intensifying.
It has been a great week so far.
— Patrick Timmons (@PatrickTimmons1) July 3, 2020
Saka and now Martinelli tied up with new deals. Future of the club secured and it feels superb ??? #AFC
— Gunners (@Gunnersc0m) July 3, 2020
Arteta was delighted that Martinelli had decided to commit his future to the club, telling Arsenal.com:
“I am very happy that Gabi has signed a new contract with us. He is a very talented young player and he has impressed us with his performances, attitude and work-rate. We are looking forward to getting him back to full fitness and to watching his development at our club.”
What the signings allow the manager to do is to start to build a squad in his own image and one that will soon be ready to challenge for the top honours again.
By bringing through hungry, young players, Arteta has mapped out a pathway for Arsenal’s youth players to again believe that they’ll be given a chance at first-team level if they put the work in.