football.london reports that Martinelli is set to join Al-Hilal from Arsenal for £60 million.

This transfer will make Martinelli Arsenal's most expensive outgoing sale in history, surpassing the record set by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who left for £35 million on August 31, 2017, nine years ago.

football.london understands that one of Arsenal's objectives this summer transfer window was to break the club's long-standing outgoing transfer record. In the years since, Manchester City has sold 11 players for higher fees than Arsenal's record, with 5 of those departures occurring this summer alone.

Oxlade-Chamberlain joined Liverpool that same year, and in the same summer transfer window, Liverpool sold Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for over £100 million. Since then, Liverpool has also sold Fabinho, Luis Díaz, and Darwin Núñez for higher fees.

After multiple summer transfer windows with significant spending, Arsenal has faced pressure to sell players. However, their player sales revenue has not offset their expenditure in the way Manchester City and Chelsea have managed in recent years. Mikel Arteta's arrival in 2019 initiated a complete squad rebuild, which yielded one trophy after six and a half years, but the global pandemic during this period constrained the club's investment capacity at precisely the moment Arsenal was looking to offload players.

Arsenal cancelled certain contracts and also borrowed from the Bank of England's COVID-19 Corporate Financing Facility to cope with revenue losses, relying on existing commercial income. In the years following the pandemic, Arsenal's commercial revenue improved significantly, coupled with relatively healthy financial conditions accumulated over many years under Arsène Wenger, enabling them to continue upgrading the squad.

Martinelli joined Arsenal in 2019, before Arteta arrived, for approximately £6 million. He emerged in the Europa League under Unai Emery, scoring two goals and providing one assist across his first two European matches against Standard Liège and Vitória Guimarães at just 18 years old.

However, shortly after Arteta took over, Martinelli suffered a serious knee injury. This occurred immediately after he had scored his second and third Premier League goals against Sheffield United and Chelsea, with the Chelsea goal proving particularly impressive.

This injury meant Martinelli missed Arsenal's FA Cup final victory. In that competition, he had helped the team progress, assisting Saka's opening goal in a 2-1 away win against Bournemouth. While many players departed or saw their contracts expire under Arteta, Martinelli remained and signed a contract extension.

However, over the following three seasons, Martinelli failed to reach those early heights. football.london understands that by the end of the 2024-25 season, the player had begun considering his next steps, knowing the club planned to strengthen the left wing position.

Eze started ahead of Martinelli and Trossard in the away match against Manchester City. This is believed to reflect Mikel Arteta's intentions regarding team selection for the new season.

In fact, football.london has learned from sources that after the World Cup, Eze was considered higher in the pecking order than Martinelli. The club also determined that if a suitable deal could be found for all parties, this would be the opportune moment for Martinelli to depart.

Galatasaray emerged as a potential suitor, but their offer of around £38 million fell significantly short of Arsenal's asking price. Notably, even at that fee, Martinelli would have become the second-most expensive signing in Süper Lig history, behind only Victor Osimhen.

Arsenal understood Martinelli's value by benchmarking transfer fees for players such as Savinho to Tottenham, Morgan Rogers to Chelsea, and Anthony Gordon. However, Martinelli endured a disappointing season last year, scoring just 1 Premier League goal at age 25, resulting in limited strong interest from top European leagues, particularly English clubs.

Ian Wright's questioning of how Arsenal treated Martinelli on Sky Sports surprised many within the club. football.london understands that Mikel Arteta discussed with Martinelli why he was excluded from the Community Shield squad against Manchester City and the opening Premier League match against Coventry.

Following the victory over Coventry, Wright stated: "The way Martinelli is being treated right now really bothers me."

Wright said: "I know they might want him to leave, and many might say, 'Yes, it's time for him to go.' But there's a way to do it, and it has to be in his best interest, in the way he wants to leave."

Wright continued: "He's not in the squad, nobody has told him clearly, he doesn't know what's happening. Yes, I know this, he doesn't know what's happening."

Wright also stated: "He's given enough to this club, he deserves more respect than this."

It appears that although Arteta explained the reasons for Martinelli's exclusion from the squad, the club's intention to sell Martinelli and the likelihood of his departure or the club's interest in moving him was not clearly communicated to the player at that time. That said, sporting directors and the like typically do not continuously update players about behind-the-scenes developments until it becomes necessary to inform them.

Moreover, although the club had signed Tsolis, they were still searching for a major new winger signing. Arsenal's interest in Morgan Rogers cooled following Chelsea's significant investment, Vinícius Júnior extended his contract with Real Madrid, and Julián Álvarez's stance remained firm until the transfer window closed: he would only leave Atlético Madrid for Barcelona.

Arsenal had originally planned to replace both Martinelli and Trossard. One would be replaced by a lesser-known option, with Tsolis viewed as a good market opportunity and a chance to develop an underrated player; the other was expected to be a blockbuster signing to elevate the attack to another level.

Unfortunately, the market did not develop as Arsenal hoped. As the transfer window entered its final stages, Al-Hilal emerged as genuinely interested and willing to meet Arsenal's asking price for Martinelli, prompting a decision within the club.

football.london understands that all levels of Arsenal agreed: even if they could not sign another striker this window, Martinelli would still be sold. Even as the final day approached and the Malik Fofana transfer saga played out, Arsenal never considered abandoning the deal.

Tsolis, Eze, and Madueke were deemed sufficient to support the team until January. Although Arsenal had ambitions to sign a marquee player, their failure to do so did not prevent them from agreeing to a record club deal worth £60 million with the Saudi Arabian club.

During the final weekend before the transfer window closed, negotiations were ongoing, with both clubs continuing discussions. football.london understands that Martinelli's former club, Ituano, has a 15% sell-on clause from his 2019 transfer to Arsenal.

Initially, the parties discussed a fixed fee of £50 million plus approximately £6 million in add-ons, with hopes of including an additional sell-on clause. However, it is understood that the two clubs ultimately agreed on a fixed fee of £60 million, and it is currently unclear whether additional sell-on clauses are included.

Martinelli travelled to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday local time and completed his medical within the next 24 hours. Arsenal is set to announce his departure, while the Saudi transfer window remains open until October 12.

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