Xhaka tips Gabriel Martinelli to be “one of the best” | OneFootball

Granit Xhaka believes Gabriel Martinelli has all the tools to be one of the best around, as the winger continues to impress this season.

Gabriel Martinelli has made an excellent start to the season, and Arsenal teammate Granit Xhaka took time to recognise that following the Gunners’ victory in the north London derby on Saturday.

Xhaka scored his derby goal with a Martinelli assist, and he insisted afterwards that the winger has the potential to be great.

“Gabriel Martinelli has a lot to be one of the best,” Xhaka said. “He goes 100mph. He has to push himself with how far he can go. He has the team and everything around the help him.”

One stat highlighted over the weekend was that Martinelli has completed the most dribbles of any Premier League player this season (20).

As well as his large quantity of dribbles, Martinelli is also completing them at a high success rate (71.4%). That’s a better rate than any of the rest of the top 10 for completed dribbles.

Martinelli isn’t just completing dribbles for the sake of it, as he’s also only behind Kevin De Bruyne for shot-creating actions across the entire Premier League – with 34.

Those dribbles are either leading to shots directly, or they’re helping him get into a better position to set one up.

It’s no surprise that Arsenal are fighting at the top of the table with Bukayo Saka in good form, the addition of Gabriel Jesus, and Gabriel Martinelli playing some of his best football since joining. But it’s a long season, and we’re only eight games in.