Rio Ferdinand has hinted he has been left confused by the struggles of Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli who Mikel Arteta once compared to a Liverpool legend.
The Brazil international enjoyed a stellar 2022/23 campaign, scoring 15 goals and registering five assists as the Gunners narrowly missed out on the Premier League title.
A season-and-a-half on, however, and the 23-year-old looks almost unrecognisable from the winger who tormented full-backs with his speed and relentless energy.
Indeed, Martinelli has scored just three goals in 13 appearances this term and is no longer an automatic starter with Leandro Trossard rivalling him for a spot on the left wing.
Martinelli’s recent form was summed up by the ‘criminal’ error he was accused of making in Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Fulham when he was caught offside in the build-up to what looked like a last-minute winning goal from Bukayo Saka.
Asked about his apparent decline, Ferdinand told his YouTube channel: ‘That point there, see for a player whose trajectory was seemingly looking like it was going like this (points to the sky).
‘I spoke to Mikel Arteta about two or three years ago at Bournemouth and in the tunnel, I asked when he first burst onto the scene ‘how good can this kid be, who is he like, give me a name?’
‘He said ‘Rio he could be anyone he wants to be, there’s a bit of Luis Suarez about him in the way he just runs’.
‘It took me back a bit because I hadn’t seen enough, I’d seen glimpses and was like ‘wow’. He has slowed up.’
Two dropped points at Craven Cottage, meanwhile, left Arteta with a sense of frustration, especially given an opportunity to reduce the gap to Liverpool had been squandered.
He said: ‘I haven’t seen a team do what we’ve done here today against them,” the manager said.
‘That’s the reality, but you want that and the three points, and that’s what was missing today. We’re going to have to work in that direction and improve those margins.
‘We’re very disappointed that we didn’t manage to get the three points, obviously. With the way we dominated the game from the start to the end, and how much the team wanted it, but these are the small margins.
‘They have the quality, they had one action to score one goal and we have to dig in to do so much to merit a lot of the stuff that happened in the game on our side. At the end, we find a way to score – it was disallowed – emotionally that was tough.’
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