Arteta Defends Arsenal's Handling of Jesus and Martinelli Exits
Mikel Arteta has pushed back hard against claims that Arsenal mishandled the exits of Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli, insisting the club did things properly and that personal relationships remain intact.
The Arsenal manager faced questions after Jesus admitted frustration over his £12.5m move to Barcelona, saying "nobody told me anything" when he was told to train away from the first team in the build-up to the transfer. The comments lit the fuse on an already heated debate, especially after club legend Ian Wright criticised how Martinelli was frozen out before his own departure.
Martinelli, a fan favourite in north London, found himself completely out of early-season matchday squads before sealing a £60m switch to Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League. To many, it looked cold. Calculated. A ruthless new Arsenal.
Arteta does not see it that way.
“Very surprised, to be fair, especially because with Gabi [Jesus] I had an individual talk in the dressing room,” he said on Friday. “I don’t know what words were said, it is fine.”
He stressed that his final conversations with Jesus were not bitter exchanges but respectful farewells.
“The words we used for each other, it was all about gratitude,” he explained. “I don’t know, it is OK. Sometimes I understand when you have to deliver bad news or news that people don’t expect, those things [you can] react [to].”
Arteta knows the narrative: ruthless manager, detached from the human cost of big decisions. He leaned straight into it.
“Somebody has to be the bad cop,” he said. “If I have to be, I have to be and I understand.”
For him, the true test of those decisions comes later, when the dust settles and emotions cool.
“What is important is normally what happens three months later, six months later, when Trossard comes in, he is the dressing room with us, the atmosphere and the relationship you have.”
Leandro Trossard is his example. The Belgian left Arsenal for Besiktas in a £15m deal this summer, yet there he was back at the Emirates after the recent 2-1 win over Chelsea, smiling and chatting with his former team-mates in the dressing room. No tension. No awkwardness. Just footballers reconnecting.
Arteta wants that same sense of closure with Jesus and Martinelli. Time, he believes, will do its work.
“Things got so far with other players that they left, at some point the relationship has been really good,” he said. “I hope that is the same case.”
For now, he has little interest in letting the noise around those exits seep into the dressing room. Arsenal head to Sunderland on Saturday night with a perfect league start to protect and momentum to guard.
The midweek Champions League win away at Napoli has lifted the squad further, and Arteta delivered a key fitness boost: Ben White, who limped late on in Italy, is “fine” and available. Cristhian Mosquera, though, is still being assessed as he battles a muscular issue.
The questions about Jesus and Martinelli will not vanish overnight. But Arsenal’s answer, at least on the pitch, will come under the lights at Sunderland, where a flawless start meets its next examination.
