Gabriel Martinelli Offered to Real Madrid as Vinicius Jr Replacement
According to reports by Spanish outlet Defensa Central, agents have been sniffing around and might have offered Arsenals winger Gabriel Martinelli’s contract to Real Madrid as a possible back up to Vinicius Junior.
That comes as there’s still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Brazilian star at Real Madrid, with his contract situation being a big point of contention at the moment.
According to Defensa Central, its been reported that several agents have gone around to some of Europes top clubs – including Real Madrid – to see which ones might be interested in 24yr old Brazilian international Martinelli.
His value is apparently at around €100 million. That’s just shy of £87m, or about $117m in US dollars.
Real Madrid’s Looking Elsewhere
Vinicius Junior is still under contract at Real Madrid until 2027, but talks about how much he’ll get paid have all but stalled.
Salary demands – which have been influenced by how much Kylian Mbappé is getting paid – and tensions between the club and his representatives have made club executives quietly start looking at some other options on the attack, should talks fail to get anywhere.
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Despite recent reports that Real Madrid are in no hurry to make any moves in January, they’re still open to making a decision in the summer if thats whats needed.
All of this comes at a pretty bad time for Real Madrid as they’re currently sitting second in La Liga – 4 points behind Barcelona – under new head coach Xabi Alonso who unfortunately left the club by agreement with them just after that Supercopa loss to Barcelona on Jan 12th, 2026. His place was taken by Álvaro Arbeloa on an interim basis.
Martins Role at Arsenal
As a dynamic forward who joins in attacks on the left side of midfield, Martinelli has been a mainstay at Arsenal since joining from Ituano back in 2019.
He’s managed 60 goals in his 249 appearances across all competitions, and has been chipping in a fair amount this year too, like that time against Real Madrid in the Champions League, and a recent hat trick in the FA Cup. He’s still got a year and a bit left on his contract, but Arsenalve also got an option to keep him on till 2028.
There’s no indication that Arsenal are willing to sell Martinelli at all, and he really is a perfect fit for what Mikel Arteta is trying to do at the club with his high-pressing tactics.
Not to mention theyre doing alright domestically too, sitting 6 points clear at the top of the Premier League after 21 matches, with 15 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses. A total of 40 goals scored and 14 conceded, with the side being a real force to be reckoned with.
The Money Angle
If they were to sell Martinelli, Arsenal would walk away from the deal with a pretty tidy profit, as they only paid a relatively small fee for him in the first place.
But basically, we can expect to see all those elite Premier league forwards commanding big money these days, so a mid-season sell would be extremely unlikely unless someone were to come in with an exceptional offer.
Speculation like this tends to pop up a lot when contract talks are still going on, or when agents are trying to get some leverage by floating some big names out there and seeing what kind of reaction they get. Observers will probably view these stories as mostly just speculation, given Arsenals security and Martinellis importance to their project.
Current Outlook
The chances of Martinelli leaving Arsenal are still pretty slim. And it’s not hard to see why – the team is in great form, and they’re definitely in the mix for a major trophy.
Unless Vinícius Júnior starts saying something about wanting a move away ( and there is some talk that Chelsea might be interested ) these links to Real Madrid seem like just the usual rumour mill stuff.
No one’s come forward yet to say that Arsenal and Real Madrid are actually talking, and at the moment both clubs are completely absorbed in their domestic leagues.
So for now, Martinelli is still very firmly part of Arteta’s plans – as Arsenal go after that Premier League title.
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Gabriel Martinelli Offered to Real Madrid as Vinicius Jr Replacement