Gabriel Martinelli: The Unconventional Road to the Top

The fact that Gabriel Martinelli is set to return from injury well ahead of schedule is no surprise to those who know the young Brazilian. The São Paulo-born forward has fought for everything he’s got in the game, working his way from amateur football in Brazil to the dizzying heights of the Premier League in just a year.

Following a knee injury sustained in training in late June, Martinelli has battled his way back, undergoing a successful arthroscopic procedure and islikely to return weeks before initially expected. With Arsenal boasting the joint-worst attack of the top 16 teams in the league, Martinelli will be a welcome boost for Arsenal fans deprived of the attacking football their club was synonymous with for so many years.

As far as attacking talent goes, not many countries can rival the conveyor belt of future world-beaters that has been coming out of Brazil for almost a decade. Even so, few of them have made their way to Europe via the unconventional pathway traversed by Martinelli.

Whereas wonder kids Rodrygo, Vinícius Jr and Reinier all spent their formative years in world-class Brazilian academy setups, Martinelli forged his own avenue to Europe. At 14, he controversially left leading academy and Campeonato side Corinthians for the far less glamorous Ituano FC, a small provincial club in the outskirts of São Paulo. Martinelli left a club which regularly boasted attendances of 33,000 for one which played in the underwhelming fourth division of Brazilian football.