On The Player’s Tribune, Brazilian striker Gabriel Martinelli told about his journey of being rejected until he became an Arsenal player and qualified for the 2022 World Cup.
The past few weeks have been crazy for me.
I’m not lying, that’s how it feels to be on the shortlist to be called up to the Brazil squad for the World Cup. Everyone knows that Coach Tite will choose 26 people, so you should calm down and wait for the call, right?
But I kept doing all sorts of calculations until my mind went round and round. All the thoughts in my head were endless questions: how many strikers will the coach bring? Who’s on the team right now? Does he need me? Did he choose me?
Everything is really tiring. I should probably sit at home with chalk and blackboard to calculate and count the number of players.
And when Tite actually called out his name, all emotions were broken, you don’t understand… I felt like I was living in a parallel fantasy world. I am where I am today thanks to many people, especially my parents. But I want to start by thanking my second family – Arsenal – because without the team my career would not be the way it is now.
Martinelli has never started for Brazil, but in the match against Cameroon in the last round of Group G of the 2022 World Cup on the evening of December 2, he is likely to be given a chance. Photo: AFP
I thank God for coming to Arsenal in 2019. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason, and I am very happy here. It’s funny looking back, because I could have played for another team. You know, I was on a project at Man Utd and even tried a few times. I met many first team players there. When I was 17 years old, I returned to Brazil from my time in Manchester and waited for the call with the good news.
One day, my father called me into the living room. He spoke to his agent and Man Utd turned me down. Not just a “Not this year” but very harsh: We don’t want him at all.
To be honest, I was shocked at the time. They watched me many times and I was sure they would sign me.
A few weeks later, I had another chance to try a job at Barcelona. After 15 days, they also said no. This time it was easier to accept because it was just a trial period, but it still hurt. At that time, I sat down and asked my father, “What do I do now?”
You cannot understand my story without knowing about my father Joao. He cares about my career as much as I do. From the time I was in my crib, he decided to take me to Corinthians to practice when I was six years old. It’s one of the biggest football teams in Brazil, and who would have counted that far? My father used to dream of becoming a professional footballer but failed and now he wants me to continue that dream. Ordinary fathers would read their children fairy tales alone, and my father would whisper, “When we are six years old, we will come to this place…”
Haha, you don’t even know if I’m good enough. All my experience is encapsulated in a shabby neighborhood near my home in Guarulhos, Sao Paulo. The goal doesn’t even have a net. I used to ride on my father’s back, go to the field and excitedly: “Dad, let’s dribble! Let’s play ball!”
And he would say, “No, let’s start working on your left leg.”
Left leg!!! I’m not even six yet! Dad is so serious. You play the goalkeeper, throw the ball and I will shoot, shoot, shoot and shoot again. Ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times…
I always complain: “Come on!”. Hard work, while I just want to have fun. I’m not the kid going around saying I’m going to be a professional footballer. That thought only flashed when I watched the World Cup. When the Brazilian flag was painted in front of the house, all 15 people in the house gathered in front of the TV screen, there were balloons, fireworks, loud car horns, brothers running around in the house and my uncle grilling delicious meat. .. how could you not think about it? When watching the team play football, you will imagine the scene wearing the yellow and green shirt at the World Cup.
But mostly I just want to play. Elizabete’s mother said I was a crazy kid running around. When I’m 10 or 11 years old, I’ll be playing at Corinthians, at school and in the lower leagues with people I know my father. Sometimes I even played three games a day. My parents had to sacrifice weekends to take me around. They sacrifice so much that they have no time for themselves. So if I didn’t kick it, the rides home would be like a century.
Martinelli pictured with his parents, as they arrived at the Emirates Stadium to visit him. Photo: The Sun.
My father talks a lot. He used to tell me that I was only 10% of what he used to be. He used to say: “There is no video or illustration, so I can’t say that you are gossiping”. He runs a lot, so I inherited that ability from him. His motto is: “There are days when you will play very badly, the ball will fail, but if you can run, you will still contribute to the team”. It was a really good lesson, and I always listened to my father.
But my father was always very strict with me. If kicking at places like Mogi Mirim, it’s a two-hour drive back and Dad will talk all the way. He never cursed or scolded, but always chose to analyze in detail: “Gabriel, this ball you should have done like this..”
And of course I know if I’m bad at it! I’m already sad, I don’t need to add more.
“You’re being careless, Gabriel.”
God, even if I pretended to be asleep, Dad would still be restless. Then after an hour, the wonderful silence began… until it was my mother’s turn: “Gabriel, you didn’t shoot with any force. You need to shoot harder”.
“Hey mom, haven’t you heard enough?”
At one point I told my father why it took so long every time, and he explained that it was only for my own sake. But it kept happening and I got mad again, haha.
When I was 14 years old, my father got a new job at Itu and I had to leave Corinthians. I cried a lot that day. I switched to Ituano, a much smaller team. But at this point, I realized that I can really follow the career of a footballer. My first agent Rafael is still with me to this day. But Dad said I needed a Plan B. Mom even wanted me to go to college, still today!
But I don’t know what to study… I just hope Plan A succeeds.
By 2018, Man Utd rejected me. Fortunately, after I played really well at Cophinha (São Paulo youth league), offers started coming in. When Rafael said Arsenal offered, I nodded immediately. I asked him what he thought, and he simply replied, “Let’s go to London together.”
It was the smartest choice we ever made.
When I arrived in London in 2019, I didn’t know anything and couldn’t even sleep. My parents and Rafael came to visit me at first, but that was all. There were times when I had to sleep alone at home and it was really hard to get used to. When I was a child, I always slept with my parents because the whole family had only one bed. When I switched to Itu, I started to fear sleeping alone. Even now I still like having people at home. Every time I have to sleep alone, I stay up all night talking on the phone with my girlfriend. Even during the day I don’t like being alone.
I can’t drive either. You need to speak English to get a driver’s license, but when I spoke fluently, Covid-19 happened and all license competitions were postponed. I spent two years hitchhiking or booking an Uber. Do you know who my savior is? Emi Martinez, a great brother. He lives 10 minutes from my house, so he often picks me up from training and to the stadium. Sometimes we even pick up Dani Ceballos. Emi always tries to help everyone and once invited me to a New Year’s Eve party with his family.
Another great elder is David Luiz. Without such people, my start would have been much harder. The people who helped me a lot were my mother and girlfriend. But the moment I needed help the most was when I had a knee injury in the summer of 2020. While training, I felt pain in my knee and received terrible news from the doctors later: I had to take a month off.
Of course I cried like rain, unable to believe my bad luck. I’ve broken my ankle before, but half a year without being able to do what I love is beyond imagination. I can’t even do leg weights. But after a week, I told myself there was no use crying, I had to get over it.
During the trauma, my English speaking improved greatly thanks to working with the therapist Jordan. We spent many days together, when I had to deal with physical and emotional pain. But I also learned a lot about my body, myself and of course English.
After a month, I started lifting weights – my first win. Gradually I was able to move my knee. In December, I reappeared and… got injured again. Right in the re-match, Man City’s reserve goalkeeper Zack Steffen collided and made me leave the field. Of course I was worried, but fortunately it was not a serious injury. A few weeks later, I was about to start against Newcastle when I injured my ankle in the warm-up and it took another week. It can be said that my comeback was not very smooth.
Fortunately, coach Mikel Arteta always treats him well. Even when he didn’t play for many seasons, he reassured me that he would give me a chance when I returned. I always wanted to play every game. Even when I substituted against Forest recently, I still wish I could have scored one more goal. But I understand that the team has a lot of games to play.
I am very happy to have taken the opportunity when it was given. I love this team. The whole team is like a big family, with great respect for each other. Just watch Arsenal practice and you’ll understand why we’re doing well: no one wants to lose even in a simple board game. Arsenal have not dropped a single point at the Emirates Stadium this season because the atmosphere in the stands is better than ever, making the opponent always feel pressure.
I assure you that when you are chasing the ball with tired legs and want to give up, you will still be able to touch the ball with 60,000 spectators cheering for you. That mental strength is amazing. Remember when Saliba had an own goal against Leicester in August? There would have been fans booing, but no, they chose to cheer and cheer: “We will always be by your side”.
Just two minutes later, we scored. That is Arsenal: we will try to win every game, because that is the goal of the whole team. Arsenal is not a team that is only aiming for a point or fourth place. We dream of trophies, the Premier League Cup and the Champions League, because that’s what the fans deserve.
After 14 matches in the Premier League this season, Martinelli has scored five goals and two assists, making a great contribution to helping Arsenal continuously top the league.
Of course, I also don’t forget the dream of the World Cup . When I was first called up by Tite in March, I didn’t even know what to say. The coach sent me a message and I read and re-read the reply 20 times for fear of saying something wrong.
My debut was at the holy city of Maracana. I still remember the feeling when I walked into the dressing room and saw a yellow shirt with Martinelli’s name on it. I took a picture of it and sent it to my parents. Father texted back: “Well done son!”.
But I know that he is more emotional than he shows. When father and son talked, he almost cried. So when I was called up to the World Cup, that magical feeling came back. This time when the whole family gathers to watch the World Cup, I will be on the TV screen. We’ll bring home the sixth Cup, God bless…
My father and I now talk much more freely. He still likes to talk about the past. I have scored five goals this season, two with my left foot. Every time he scored a goal, he would call and say, “Do you remember when we were training on the pitch when we were kids, you were forced to shoot your left foot and complain all the time? Does it work now?”
I don’t know what else to say. Dad is always right.
