Manchester United legend, Paul Scholes has claimed that Gabriel Martinelli has gone “backwards” a little bit under manager Mikel Arteta.
The former England midfielder said this while replying to Liverpool legend, Jamie Carragher’s comments about Martinelli.
Martinelli was one of Arsenal’s top performers in the 2022/23 season.
The Brazilian attacker scored 15 goals in all competitions for the Gunners.
However, his level dropped last season as he scored just eight goals for Arteta’s side.
This season, Martinelli has scored just four goals in 22 appearances for Arsenal so far.
Speaking on The Overlap’s latest Fan Debate, Scholes and Carragher raised doubts over Martinelli.
“I look at Martinelli and actually think probably three years ago when this team was just getting built, it felt like Odegaard, Saka and Martinelli were all at the same sort of level, looked like they could go on and be top players
“I think the other two have, I’m not sure about Martinelli,” Carragher said.
Replying to Carragher, Scholes said: “Yeah, it feels like he’s gone backwards a little bit.
“You thought a year, 18 months ago, ‘wow, what a player’, and he has stalled a little bit.
“He’s still young, isn’t he? We said pre-season a centre-forward was always something that we felt Arsenal needed, and for some reason I don’t think the manager did.
“Then we all thought Odegaard coming back into the team would create more and I think he has made them a better team and I think eventually they will be okay. But January is so hard, who is out there?”
