Mikel Arteta puts a great emphasis on training at Arsenal.
The Spaniard is a coach first and manager next, and he has improved almost every single player he has worked with over the years.
That is the reason why Arsenal are the favourites to win the Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup this season.
One of the players Arteta has helped develop is Gabriel Martinelli.
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Gabriel Martinelli trains like he’s playing in a match at Arsenal
Arsenal signed Martinelli from Ituano in the summer of 2019.
Nobody here in England had really heard of the Brazilian at the time, but he had caught the eye of two huge clubs before the Gunners made their move for him.
Barcelona were one of them, and Manchester United were the other. He attended trials at both clubs. However, neither decided to sign him.
Then, Arsenal came calling, and Edu Gaspar sealed the deal. At £6 million, he has been a phenomenal signing for the current Premier League leaders.
Although his form has gone up and down in recent years, people who watch him train at the Sobha Realty Training Centre are always in awe of him.
That’s because Martinelli treats every training session like a game with a ‘ferocious’ intensity, claim the Daily Mail.
The outlet wrote: “At London Colney, observers say he trains at match tempo, haring around the pitches with ferocious intensity. He sprints even when others jog.
“It’s a self-driven pressure borne from knock-backs as a child trying to break into elite football, coping with rejections from Manchester United and Barcelona before Arsenal took a chance on him thanks to the advice of their now former sporting director and fellow Brazilian Edu.”
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Mikel Arteta absolutely loves Gabriel Martinelli’s intensity
It’s only normal for players to slow down a level or two in training.
Most of them do that to avoid injuries and take care of themselves, but there are some players who train every day like it’s their last session.
Martinelli, hailed as ‘absolutely superb’ by Ray Parlour, belongs to that category, and another player who was like that was Alexis Sanchez all those years ago under Arsene Wenger.
Arteta is a big fan of that, and while speaking about Martinelli recently, he said: “I love it (his attitude). Gabi, in every context that you throw him in – he plays or he doesn’t play, he performs well or not well, he’s going to train 100 miles an hour, for sure.
“He’s not going to change that. And that’s Gabi.”
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