Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli is quietly having a tremendous season.
The Brazil international is not a first-choice starter under Mikel Arteta anymore, but he has nevertheless been delivering impressive numbers.
That is something Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti will be looking at ahead of the World Cup, and he could be forced to make an unexpected change to his plans.
Is Gabriel Martinelli the best Brazilian in the Premier League right now? If not, who is?
Carlo Ancelotti could be forced to change his Brazil plans because of Gabriel Martinelli
Gabriel Martinelli has never been a regular starter for Brazil.
It has never been easy for the Arsenal man to get minutes because of the likes of Vinicius Jr, Raphinha, Rodrygo Goes, Endrick and even Richarlison being ahead of him in the pecking order.
In the upcoming FIFA World Cup in America, Ancelotti could be forced to change that.
Despite playing just over 1300 minutes of football in all competitions this season, Martinelli has scored 10 goals, averaging a goal every 132 minutes.
Brazil’s other striking options – the likes of Endrick, Joao Pedro, Richarlison and even Vinicius Jr if you want to put him there – have a worse minutes-per-goal ratio.
Ancelotti is likely to choose Chelsea star Pedro as his main centre-forward, but Martinelli has almost as many goals as him in nearly half his minutes (10 goals on 1327 minutes compared to 13 in 2506 minutes).
With rapid wide players like Vinicius and Raphinha playing either side of him, we think it would make the most sense to deploy the Arsenal number 11 as the centre-forward.
That would make Brazil extremely unpredictable as the three forwards can all interchange positions, and their speed would make them devastating in attack.
Playing Martinelli as a striker would not have been at the top of Ancelotti’s plans, but his form could change that for the upcoming World Cup.
Change my mind, Gabriel Martinelli can only save his Arsenal career by becoming a striker.
Gabriel Martinelli could be the new Alexis Sanchez for Arsenal and Brazil
Alexis Sanchez played a lot of his career on the left wing, but he was unbelievable as a striker for Arsenal and his national team, Chile.
Martinelli shares several traits with the former Gunners number seven.
They are both quick, skilful, can play across the front line and are usually very clinical in front of goal when they get an opportunity.
For those reasons, we think Brazil and Arsenal should both use Martinelli as a striker, as that would bring the best out of him, just like it did with Sanchez.
However, Mikel Arteta has always been reluctant to make that move. It remains to be seen if Ancelotti will be braver with his approach.
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