Gabriel Martinelli has made it clear that he is close to signing a new contract with Arsenal – and joked he "just needs a pen" to make it happen.
Martinelli has been one of the standout performers for Arsenal during their brilliant early-season form, contributing five goals and two assists in 12 Premier League games so far. As Mirror Football reported last month, the 21-year-old is in line for a new contract, along with Bukayo Saka and William Saliba.
The Brazilian forward is currently under contract with Arsenal until June 2024, while the club also holds the option to extend that deal for a further year. But they are ready to increase his weekly wage from £70,000 to around £200,000 in order to ward off interest from Liverpool and Chelsea.
Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s final Europa League game against FC Zurich on Thursday, Martinelli said he would be delighted to sign a new contract.
“I’m very happy at Arsenal,” he told reporters. “I’ve said it many times. This is my club. I love to be here. I love the city, I love the club, I love everything about Arsenal. So I want to stay, I’m very happy.”
He was then asked if he just needed a pen to sign a new contract. He replied: “Yeah, I just need a pen!”
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Martinelli joined Arsenal three years ago after the Gunners won the race for his signature. The north London side paid a reported £6million for his services and they have been rewarded with 23 goals and 15 assists in 101 appearances so far.
This season has seen Martinelli nail down a starting place in Mikel Arteta’s first-choice XI. The youngster has been playing off the left-hand side of Arsenal’s front three, alongside compatriot Gabriel Jesus and England star Bukayo Saka. Martinelli puts his consistent form this season down to his teammates.
“When you play with good players it’s easy,” he said. “When I look to him (Jesus) he’s always moving. Bukayo is always willing to play as well, so it becomes easy to adapt. If sometimes you can see the games, he goes wide and I go central.
“The goal that I scored against Forest – I was wide, I got the ball, I played to Bukayo, he went to the wing and I went inside the box. So I think everyone can see when we change our positions. We like to do it and we always talk about it because we say that we’re players that like to move and rotate and this is good. It’s hard for the defenders to mark us, so we’ll keep doing it.”
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been open in his praise for Martinelli, while Chelsea have also been credited with interest in him. But it seems that he is happy with Arsenal and that a new contract is only a matter of time.