Ljungberg accuses Arsenal fans of forgetting Martinelli after £60m Saudi exit

Freddie Ljungberg has taken aim at Arsenal supporters for their treatment of Gabriel Martinelli, arguing that fans lost sight of the Brazilian’s importance to the club before his £60 million move to Al-Hilal this summer.

Martinelli arrived at the Emirates in 2019 as a relative unknown under Unai Emery and gradually became a key figure in the Arsenal side that re-emerged as Premier League title contenders under Mikel Arteta. His most productive campaign yielded 15 goals, and fewer than two years ago he was scoring the winner against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu. He leaves having scored 62 goals in 278 appearances — a record sale for the club.

“A Brazilian football player, he works that hard, the age he has and numbers and stuff, that’s not a cheap football player,” Ljungberg said on Viaplay. “And they sold him for quite a lot of money so I was a little bit [surprised] when people really wanted him out and fans wanted him out. I was a bit like, ‘That’s a good player that you just want out’.”

The former Sweden international added: “Sometimes the fans forget, maybe, how much he has done for this club, how many important goals he scored during the years.”

Martinelli’s final season at Arsenal told its own story. He managed just one goal and was named among the substitutes for each of the club’s last six matches of the campaign. The arrival of Christos Tzolis, who has since established himself on the left wing, effectively confirmed the end of his time in north London.

Arteta had publicly insisted as recently as the Community Shield — a match both Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus were left out of — that the pair remained important to his plans. Since those comments, Jesus has joined Barcelona and Martinelli has departed for the Saudi Pro League, with Arsenal banking a record outgoing transfer fee in the process.

Ljungberg’s remarks reflect a broader tension at the club between the demands of a squad competing at the highest level and the loyalty owed to players who helped build that platform in the first place.