Jurgen Klopp might be Gabriel Martinelli's biggest fan, but the Brazilian isn't going anywhere and has made it clear he wants to stay at the Emirates for "his whole life."
The Liverpool boss has repeatedly singled out the Arsenal youngster in recent years and has called him a generational talent. That came to fruition on Wednesday night as he gave Trent Alexander-Arnold a torrid time despite the 2-0 defeat against the Reds. The England full-back struggled to deal with his pace and trickery the full night as Martinelli proved he is more than a match for one of the best players at his position.
There was a particular moment of brilliance in the second half when the youngster skipped past Alexander-Arnold before nutmegging Jordan Henderson as he almost set up a teammate in the box for an easy tap-in. And Klopp was full of praise for Martinelli after the game but defended Alexander-Arnold's performance against him.
"Martinelli is such a talented boy, it's really tricky." And that's not the first time the German has waxed lyrical about Martinelli.
The first time Klopp came up against Martinelli in a match, in October 2019, he described him as a “talent of the century”. After watching the young forward tear apart Sepp van den Berg and Joe Gomez, he said: “[Van den Berg] played an incredible game. That’s really difficult to deal with these guys."
A few days later, he added that the winger is "really unbelievable" and applauded Edu, Arsenal's technical director, for plucking him from Brazil. In his answer, his thoughts turned back to Martinelli. "Little Martinelli," he said. "We will talk about this player in the future. If he will be without major injuries he will have a proper career."
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Klopp then piled even more praise on the rising star after the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final. "Martinelli by the way…everybody should remember that name. Outstanding player," Klopp said.
Martinelli was flattered by Klopp's comments, telling Marca: "I feel very proud that one of the best tacticians in the world speaks well of me. Now I have to remain firm, focused and continue working to achieve greater things."
Arsenal fans will no doubt be feeling a little on edge every time Klopp mentions the rising star, but they'll be glad to know he is fully onboard with Mikel Arteta's project. Martinelli hopes he can stay in north London for his whole career, if he is able to, and is focused on delivering a top-four finish this season.
He told ESPN Brazil: "We always want more. Of course, Arsenal are a giant team. If I can, I’ll stay here my whole life. I want to conquer things, I already said, I want to stay here and win titles, with this wonderful crowd, my teammates.
"We have a young group, we have a lot of time ahead of us, players with a lot of quality, I think we will achieve great things. Our focus [today] is the Champions League. Fighting for that top 4. A club like Arsenal has to be in the Champions League. It’s our total focus."
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