Martinelli to Al Hilal
Arsenal sell winger for club-record £60m

1. 3 Sept
   Move confirmed

   Arsenal and Al Hilal announced the transfer, with Martinelli signing a four-year contract in a deal worth around £60m (€70m).
2. 30 Aug
   Verbal agreement reached

   Fabrizio Romano reported a verbal agreement in place for a fee above €65m including add-ons, with Martinelli given authorisation to travel to complete the move.
3. 27 Aug
   Medical booked

   Reports said a medical had been booked for the following weekend, with Martinelli training with his Arsenal teammates for what was expected to be the last time.
4. 23 Aug
   Talks reported

   Fabrizio Romano reported Al Hilal were working on a deal for Martinelli, describing him as high on manager Simone Inzaghi's list of transfer targets.

Arsenal have sold Gabriel Martinelli to Al Hilal in a club-record £60m deal, with the Brazil winger moving to Saudi Arabia after losing his place under Mikel Arteta.

Gabriel Martinelli has left Arsenal for Al Hilal in a deal worth around £60m (€70m), a club-record sale for Arsenal that comfortably surpasses the £35m they received for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Liverpool in 2017. The move was confirmed by both clubs on 3 September 2026, with the Brazil winger signing a four-year contract in Riyadh. Arsenal have also included a sell-on clause, meaning they stand to receive a percentage of any future transfer fee should Al Hilal sell him on again. The 25-year-old becomes one of the highest-profile arrivals yet in a Saudi Pro League that continues to attract established Premier League talent.

For Al Hilal, this is a marquee addition to Simone Inzaghi's squad. The club, who sit top of the Saudi Pro League with a perfect record after four games, have also signed Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa this summer, and Martinelli gives Inzaghi a genuine pace threat to play off him from the left. He is comfortable cutting inside onto his stronger foot or driving down the outside, and his directness in transition suits a side built to break quickly on the counter-attack. Alongside Watkins through the middle and Crysencio Summerville on the opposite flank, Martinelli completes a front line built for speed and penetration.

Arsenal lose a player who had been at the club for seven years, arriving from Brazilian side Ituano as a teenager in January 2019. In that time he made 278 appearances and scored 62 goals, and was part of the squad that won the Premier League last season — Arsenal's first title since 2004 — as well as the FA Cup in 2020 and the Community Shield. But his role had shrunk significantly. Arsenal added attacking options in Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres last summer, then brought in Christos Tzolis on the left this summer, and Martinelli was left out of the matchday squad entirely for the Community Shield and the Premier League opener against Coventry City. Mikel Arteta described it as "a personal situation that we are dealing with", adding: "Everybody knows and recognises how much we love Gabi. Whatever the outcome is, it will be because everyone agrees to that." With a year left on his contract, a club-record sale suited both player and club.

Martinelli's game time had already been reducing before this. He still made 53 appearances last season as Arsenal won the league and reached the Champions League final, but had not featured for the first team at all before this move this season. He also represented Brazil at this year's World Cup, scoring against Japan in the round of 32 before Brazil's exit to Norway. Earlier in the summer he turned down an offer of around £38.9m from Galatasaray, a decision that ultimately led to a considerably bigger move once Al Hilal's interest became concrete in late August.

At Al Hilal, Martinelli is expected to operate on the left, wearing the number 11 shirt, with licence to run in behind opposition defences and combine with Watkins centrally. Given Al Hilal's strong start to the season and the resources they have put into building a squad capable of competing continentally, he should find the regular game time that had become harder to come by at Arsenal in a league that has increasingly attracted top-level players still at or near their peak years.

• Announced by the clubs100

A sourcing score, not a chance of completion: it grades how solid the reporting behind the move is. The stage and the evidence come from the sources listed below; the arithmetic is fixed in code, the same for every deal.

• Gabriel Martinelli joins Al-Hilal | Arsenal FC Official Website
• Gabriel Martinelli leaves Arsenal for Al Hilal in £60m transfer
• Arsenal complete record sale as Gabriel Martinelli makes €70m transfer to Al-Hilal
• Al-Hilal book medical ahead of Gabriel Martinelli transfer as Mikel Arteta acknowledges Arsenal exit
• Fabrizio Romano: Al Hilal working on Watkins and Martinelli deals
• Fabrizio Romano: Martinelli to Al Hilal, here we go