The surprise expressed in Neymar’s wide eyes when coach Tite announced the call-up of Gabriel Martinelli, 21, for the Qatar Cup was shared by many fans.
After all, in addition to the strong competition in the sector, the young striker had never been called up to defend the main Brazilian team until March of this year and, since then, he has played only three times – against Chile, Bolivia and Japan–, always coming off the bench.
In the short career of Gabriel Teodoro Martinelli Silva, however, everything evolved quickly. Since the last World Cup, in Russia, the player went from the base categories of a club in the interior of São Paulo without a national calendar, in 2018, to one of the highlights of the English Arsenal, current Premier League leader.
Born in Guarulhos, in 2001, Martinelli from an early age attracted attention for his dedication and skill with the ball. In 2007, aged 6, the boy took his first kicks in futsal for Corinthians, taken by his father, João Carlos.
At 10, on the field, as a center forward, he divided himself between scoring his goals with the number 9 shirt of the boys’ team and observing another reference, Ronaldo Fenômeno, the number 9 of the professionals, in training at Fazendinha.
“Martinelli was always a top scorer, way above average. He scored 40 goals [em um campeonato] in the hall”, recalls Márcio Zanardi, coach of the under-11 team at Corinthians at the time. “He was just a little individualistic, but over time he started to play with more support and, with that, he grew a lot.”
Martinelli played for Corinthians until he was 13 and scored 73 goals in 139 games. When his parents moved to Itu, 101 km from São Paulo, his trajectory in Parque São Jorge was interrupted.
“Today, this change would be very risky, the boys come from far away to have a chance at Corinthians. But the family moved to the interior and there were rumors that he was already being observed by Manchester United”, says Zanardi.
A few months later, the striker emerged at Ituano’s juniors, with the endorsement of then-manager Juninho Paulista, also a child of the club’s academy. So top hat, he left the club in 2019 to take over the coordination of CBF teams.
“Gabriel had a differentiated intelligence and a lot of desire to be the best”, recalls Thiago Baldari, coach of the athlete in the sub-15 of Ituano.
“Physically, he suffered a lot, he was smaller than his colleagues, but that made him evolve technically, he learned to occupy spaces and read the game and opponents.”
Team top scorer at Paulista sub-15, in 2016, and sub-17, the following year, Martinelli scored 37 goals in 63 games at the base. He also started to play on the left wing and make the transition at speed. In 2018, at 16, he made his professional debut.
During this period, the striker visited England, invited to learn about the structure of Manchester United and, later, trained with the Barcelona youth team. The trips earned the player the attention of observers, including those of the Italian national team.
“There was the possibility [de ele jogar pela Itália], but Gabriel knew it was in the plans of the Brazilian team. Called up for under-20 [no início de 2019] and then ended up in the Olympics”, says Gustavo Leal, coach André Jardine’s assistant for the under-20 and under-23 teams.
“What drew attention to him was his physique, a lot of strength and explosion. If you saw him training with 22 or 23 year old players, it seemed that Gabriel was older”, says Leal. At 18, Martinelli’s weakness had become his greatest asset.
The selection came when the striker was going through his best phase at Ituano. He stood out in the 2019 Copa São Paulo with six goals in four games and, in Paulista, he was elected the revelation. His six goals helped the club reach the quarterfinals and return to the Brazilian Championship, in Série D. In total, there were ten goals in 31 games.
“Gabriel always showed maturity, he had the instinct to participate and to train hard. I didn’t need to motivate him and had little to correct”, says coach Vinícius Bergantin, who trained him in the main team of Ituano.
The good performances were worth a five-year contract with Arsenal, in 2019, which invested 6 million pounds (about R$ 30 million, at the time). After a promising start –ten goals in 26 games in the season–, the player spent almost ten months away due to a left knee injury and lost space.
The good phase was resumed in the second half of 2021, after helping the team to win Olympic gold in Japan. This season, alongside Gabriel Jesus, Martinelli has been one of the highlights and scored five goals in 19 matches, convincing Tite to take him to Qatar.
“His presence in this World Cup will make him develop even more, it can help him to be a protagonist both in the next Cup and in world football”, says Baldari.
“He always exceeds expectations. When he does well at Arsenal, English journalists call me and I answer ‘wait, something better is coming’. And Gabriel goes there and surpasses himself”, concludes Bergantin.
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