Gabriel Martinelli flew home from Brazil on Wednesday morning with Arsenal teammate Gabriel Magalhaes following the national team’s World Cup qualifier against Peru.
Martinelli, 23, was an unused substitute in the country’s capital, Brasilia, after missing training on Monday because of a calf injury. The previous day, he complained of pain in his right calf, and that night, an MRI showed a small area of muscle oedema.
Before that, he had barely played in their first match against Chile in Santiago, only coming on as a substitute for the final five minutes. Magalhaes, 26, meanwhile, played the entirety of both games, as the central defender did during the September international break when Brazil played Ecuador in Curitiba and Paraguay in Asuncion.
Fulham ’s Andreas Pereira and Lucas Paqueta of West Ham United also featured in this month’s matches before joining the Gunners pair on a private jet back to London. The former posted a photo of them inside the aircraft on his Instagram story with the caption, “Work completed. Back to home.” Martinelli shared the post on his own story, as did Magalhaes and Paqueta.
The latter faces the quickest turnaround, with West Ham visiting Tottenham Hotspur in the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday before Fulham hosts Aston Villa later that afternoon. Arsenal, though, face an away trip to Bournemouth before their evening match.
But whether that still comes too soon for Martinelli remains to be seen. In a statement confirming the injury, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) confirmed that the player was undergoing “physiotherapy treatment under the care of the Brazilian National Team’s Medical Department”.
The winger is among only four players to feature in all ten matches this season. Magalhaes is another, with Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka being the others, but there are doubts about their involvement against Bournemouth because of injury issues.
