Gabriel Martinelli has revealed that he and Arsenal teammate Gabriel Magalhaes tried to convince Gabriel Jesus to join the club this summer. The 25-year-old signed a five-year deal with the Gunners from Manchester City, costing roughly £45million to make the switch.
The Brazilian will be hoping he can solve Mikel Arteta's goal scoring problems, having struggled to have a talisman that could find the net regularly last season. Having worked with him before at the Etihad Stadium, the Spaniard claimed he was very happy to have Jesus sign for the club.
“I’m very excited," Arteta said when asked about the deal. "The club has done a tremendous job to recruit a player of this stature. I know Gabriel personally very well, and we all know him well from his time in the Premier League and being really successful here.
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"This is a position that’s been on our radar for a long time now and we have managed to get a player that we all wanted, so I’m really happy.” Though the Gunners were the eventual new club of Jesus, they weren't the only side in the race to land the versatile striker.
In fact, it was revealed that London rivals Chelsea made a late approach for the Brazilian, but his camp had already made their mind up on making the move to the Emirates Stadium. That could be, in part, down to the help of some of his new teammates and compatriots at the club.
As revealed by Martinelli on Ian Wright's podcast - Wrighty's House - he and Gabriel were trying to convince him to make the switch on international duty: "In the national team, I was [saying] every day, 'Gabi, you’re my teammate already, come to us [Arsenal], we need you.'
"Gab [Gabriel] as well, big Gabi [was joining in]." It shows just how important player power can be in playing a part in a move. While that may not be the sole reason he moved, the ever growing core of Brazilian Gunners are working their magic off the field and will be hoping to do so on it.
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