Gabriel Martinelli has now revealed who one of his closest friends at Arsenal is.
Gabriel Martinelli has now opened up about his bond with Arsenal attacking midfielder Fabio Vieira.
When Vieira arrived at the Emirates Stadium in a £34 million switch from Porto in the summer of 2022, Martinelli was already on the books at the north London club. It will have been easy for the pair to communicate and strike up a connection as they are both native Portuguese speakers.
As the more established figure at the club, Martinelli will have seen it as one of his responsibilities to help Vieira settle in to life in England and acclimatise to the club.
The feeling between the pair is clearly mutual, as Vieira has previously described the Brazilian winger as being “like a brother.”
Gabriel Martinelli explains friendship with Fabio Vieira
Now, Martinelli has had his say on their dynamic. As quoted by the club’s official website, the 22-year-old explained, “we have a really good relationship. With Fabio it was a bit easier because we speak the same language, so we can have conversations more naturally. We’ve become really good friends and that’s going to be the case for life.”
“Our girlfriends are really close too and we all like to do things together. For example, a while back, we went to an escape room together as a four and that was good fun.”
“It’s nice to have someone who likes to speak your language, someone you can have big conversations with. We’ve got a real bond. I trust him – he’s a good guy and he’s got a son now… wow! We are going to go and visit the baby soon.”
Whilst Martinelli and Vieira are close off the pitch, there is a disparity in their importance on it. It is fair to say that the Portuguese ace has failed to live up to his price tag since joining the club. There have been flashes of quality from the 23-year-old, but a lack of consistency and his tendency to go missing in matches has prevented him from truly establishing himself at the Emirates Stadium.
Martinelli, on the other hand, is a nailed on starter and an integral part of the team. His pace and dynamism makes him a constant threat to opposition defences on the left flank and he is also trusted by Mikel Arteta to track back and support Oleksandr Zinchenko when Arsenal lose possession.
However, Arteta will still be delighted by the friendship between Martinelli and Vieira. He is a great believer in the importance of unity within a squad and has worked hard to cultivate a family atmosphere at the club. If players are happy and comfortable off the pitch they are more likely to perform well on it.
Vieira now needs to focus kicking on in the second half of the season. If he can’t prove that he can reliably contribute then Arteta will surely consider moving him on sooner rather than later, which would clearly be a disappointing outcome for Martinelli.
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