Martinelli to Al-Hilal done as Fabrizio Romano confirms value of record-breaking Arsenal exit | OneFootball

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed how much Arsenal will earn from the sale of Gabriel Martinelli, who’s been authorised to complete his move to Al-Hilal.

Martinelli has become surplus to requirements at the Emirates this summer. He scored just one Premier League goal this season, and the Gunners have signed fellow left-winger Christos Tzolis, who already has three assists for the club.

Game time for the incumbent left-sided attacker might therefore have been limited, and he’s been nearing a move to Al-Hilal of late.

That’s after interest from clubs within Europe, such as Napoli and Galatasaray – the latter of which Martinelli made it clear he didn’t want to move to.

But he has had no issues with heading to Saudi Arabia, with Romano revealing there is now a verbal agreement in place for the transfer, worth €65million (£55.7m).

That makes the Brazilian the most-expensive player ever to leave the Emirates, breaking the record set by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain when he swapped Arsenal for Liverpool in 2017.

Martinelli has been given authorisation to travel and make his move to Al-Hilal permanent.

Gabriel Martinelli fears eased at Arsenal

Our friends at TEAMtalk have suggested that there were concerns the winger could reject a move to Saudi Arabia.

While Al-Hilal were confident about signing Martinelli, there was concern at Arsenal that they might not recoup the most they ever have from one transfer, as they felt the Brazilian might decide against the switch.

But those fears were eased when authorisation was granted for him to head to the Middle East to sign terms with Al-Hilal, and it’s believed he has already begun to make his way there.

The outlet also states that Arsenal are planning to bring in a new attacker to fill the gap that Martinelli will leave.

Marseille’s Igor Paixao is mentioned, as of course is Julian Alvarez, who the Gunners have been battling hard to sign all summer, but the overriding feeling is that he doesn’t want to go anywhere but Barcelona.

But Atletico Madrid have continually made it clear that if they are to sell the Argentine, it will absolutely not be to Barca, and therefore, Arsenal represent one of the best chances for Alvarez to depart his current club.

Currently, there’s little progress on that potential transfer, and the saga surrounding Alvarez is one which could continue right into the final hours of the summer window.