Gabriel Martinelli injury update and more Arsenal news

I can only imagine what Mikel Arteta was thinking when the news leaked to Arsenal that Gabriel Martinelli had followed Bukayo Saka through injury on international duty.

It is still too early to say if the calf problem suffered by Martinelli will rule the Brazilian out of Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth. I understand that, following discussions with the Brazilian team’s medical staff, there is not much concern at Arsenal about the seriousness of Martinelli’s problem.

It could still force him to miss Saturday’s game, but that is a decision that will be made on Friday before the team make the trip to the south coast after their final training session at London Colney.

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Arsenal have not insisted that Martinelli return to the UK any time soon. They are comfortable with their stay with Brazil and the return as planned with Gabriel Magalhaes after the game with Peru.

So it’s too early to rule him out of contention for the weekend, but should he miss out, Arteta has a few options to call upon, even if Saka is also absent.

Gabriel Jesús is one of those options. Struggled to play as a centre-forward against Southampton before the international break, but has shown he can be a useful option playing out wide.

He can play on the right or left and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Arteta use him away at Bournemouth, although the most likely alternative to Martinelli on the left would be Raheem Sterling.

Jesus is clearly struggling for confidence right now. You can tell by the way he’s playing. He is overthinking things and taking too many touches when in possession.

When Jesus is at his best, he does things by hand. He creates chaos with his movement and work rate. But right now he’s causing more confusion than chaos with his game.

I think there’s certainly a chance this could be his last season at the club, but obviously that’s a decision that will be made in the summer should a suitable offer come along.

I expect Arsenal to introduce an advance and that would further limit Jesus’ chances. He’s now well behind Kai Havertz in the pecking order and it’s hard to see him turning around at this point given the form of both players.

But whatever happens, he still has a big role to play this season.

Arsenal will need Jesus, so it is crucial that they help him improve and find his confidence again, because if they can do that, they have a player who has the quality to have a big say in this campaign.

Honestly, the Unai Emery debate when it comes to Arsenal really bores me now. I don’t understand how it’s still a thing.

Emery is doing great things at Aston Villa and I am happy for him because he is clearly an excellent manager and it was a pleasure to deal with him when he was in charge of Arsenal.

But no matter what he does to Villa and what they achieve, it won’t change the fact that Arsenal were absolutely right to get rid of him when they did.

It was the right decision. In fact, it was the only decision. I just had to go.

The results were woeful, the football was even worse and the Emirates was half empty every other week. He had lost most of the fans and it was plainly obvious that he had also lost large parts of the dressing room.

It just didn’t work and this happens.

This is not a slight against Emery. Sometimes things didn’t add up and that’s what happened with him at Arsenal.

He too was unlucky. He came in at a time when there was so much change going on behind the scenes. Ivan Gazidis, the man who appointed him, left shortly after arriving and that departure created a power vacuum at the club.

There was a battle behind the scenes that led to Raul Sanllehi taking over and bringing in some players that Emery didn’t really want.

So he had to deal with a lot of things and maybe if he had been given the kind of power that Mikel Arteta had been given, things would have been different.

But this argument is all ifs and buts. That’s why I don’t understand why it’s still a thing.

The fact is, everyone came out better.

Emery has been doing fantastic things, first with Villarreal and now with Villa. While Arsenal have completely transformed themselves having turned to Arteta.

It’s a win, a win for everyone and that should be the end of the discussion.

Georgiy Sudakov has been linked with Arsenal recently and will get to see his talent up close on Tuesday night when Shakhtar Donetsk visit the Emirates in the Champions League.

Sudakov’s stock is rising fast, with clubs including Arsenal, Manchester City, Spurs and Liverpool all interested in the attacking midfielder.

It is too early to say whether Arsenal will make a move for the 22-year-old, but it is no surprise to see him mentioned as a potential target for the club.

He fits the profile that Mikel Arteta and Edu like and plays in an area where Arsenal will be looking to strengthen in the coming windows.

Sudakov likes to push forward from midfield and operate in the number 10 role but can also play deeper and with Thomas Partey and Jorginho expected to move on at the end of the season and Mikel Merino approaching 30 , Arsenal will be looking to add some fresh blood to their midfield options.

They will know, however, due to their highly publicized pursuit of Mykhailo Mudryk, that Shakhtar are not an easy club to do business with.

So if they do decide to pursue Sudakov, they will be aware that it wouldn’t come cheap and Mudryk’s struggles since joining Chelsea show what a big step up in class he is when he moves from the Ukraine to the Premier League.

It should certainly be a warning to interested parties.

Arsenal fans have been a little taken aback by the club’s reluctance to enter the Brazilian market of late.

We’ve seen plenty of clubs do it, notably Chelsea and of course Real Madrid, but Arsenal have kept their powder dry since the signings of Gabriel Martinelli and Marquinhos.

When Edu was appointed, it was expected that given his connections in Brazil, the club would look to tap into the market there, but it hasn’t really happened.

There are always links and us saw this recently with Vitor Reisbut so far Arsenal have preferred to focus their business on the European market.

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I can’t say for sure why this is, but my hunch is that they’ve preferred to move for players they believe will acclimatise quicker to the demands of the Premier League.

Arsenal have risen rapidly in recent years and their approach to building their squad has been carefully managed.

They have signed project players, but perhaps feel the risk has been too great in moving for young Brazilian talent, especially given the transfer fees they now command.