Arsenal star explains why he didn’t sign for Manchester United

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Gabriel Martinelli has indicated that those trials at Manchester United came too soon in his development with the Brazil international blossoming into one of the Premier League’s most promising forwards these days at Arsenal. 

Almost every club has that one ‘what could have been’ moment.

Ryan Giggs spent time in the blue of Manchester City before moving over to the red side of the city. Raul won a youth title with Atletico Madrid before making his name at arch rivals Real.

And as far as Manchester United are concerned, deciding against signing Martinelli after a number of trials in England’s North West – as reported by the Manchester Evening News – is a decision that hindsight does not look too fondly upon. 

Martinelli himself, however, has indicated that he was perhaps not ‘ready’ to leave South America behind when Man United came calling.

Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli had trials at Manchester United

“I think I was about 13 or 14 when I went to Manchester for the first time. I don’t remember exactly, but I was still young. Nobody knew me,” Martinelli recalls, speaking to the Arsenal website.

“That was a new experience for me, being away from home. I didn’t like it at first. I wanted to be at home. But I would go with my dad to these places and I was a bit scared. A different country, a different language that I didn’t speak.

“It was hard for me.”

Martinelli, per talkSPORT, had no fewer than four trials with the Red Devils. The most recent coming in 2017. Arsenal would eventually go one step further and take the punt two years later, stumping up £6 million to bring the fresh-faced forward to the Emirates Stadium from FC Ituano.

“Maybe the trials I had helped me, I don’t know,” Martinelli muses. “But what I do know is that, in my mind, I was ready to join Arsenal. In my mind I felt I was ready to do it.

“I did well at the beginning as well and that helped me get confidence too.”

Martinelli would explode out of the blocks in Arsenal colours, Jurgen Klopp famously labelling him the ‘talent of the century’ after the then-18-year-old scored twice in a remarkable 5-5 draw between the Gunners and Liverpool in the EFL Cup.

Now 21, Martinelli has more Premier League goals for Arsenal – 15 – than anyone else bar Martin Odegaard, Mikel Arteta’s side still in with a shot at the title even as Manchester City wrestle control of their own destiny.