Gabriel Martinelli rejects move away as Arsenal receive club-record transfer offer

Gabriel Martinelli has informed Arsenal that he doesn’t want to leave and join Galatasaray, talkSPORT understands.

The Turkish giants registered their interest in Martinelli last week and followed that up with a £38.4million verbal offer.

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But the Brazilian winger is not sold on making the move and his camp have told the Gunners that he has no interest in plying his trade in the Super Lig.

That means Martinelli could end up staying in north London this summer, despite the club being open to offers.

Arsenal are believed to be only prepared to sanction an exit if they sign another left winger to replace him.

Vinicius Junior remained at Real Madrid amid interest from the Gunners and Morgan Rogers joined Chelsea, while Kenan Yildiz, Julian Alvarez, Iliman Ndiaye and Eli Junior Kroupi have all been monitored by the club.

Meanwhile, Christos Tzolis has taken Leandro Trossard’s place, but as things stand after Martinelli’s rejection, the 25-year-old will be staying as an option for Mikel Arteta this season.

Would Martinelli have become Arsenal’s record sale?

Should Martinelli have linked up with Galatasaray, it would have represented a club-record sale for Arsenal.

Currently, Arsenal’s most expensive departure is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who joined Liverpool for £35m in 2017.

The potential Martinelli deal would have beaten that price by just over £3m.

But it’s not going to happen, with the Brazil international’s future remaining a talking point heading into the Community Shield on Sunday afternoon, which will be live on talkSPORT.

Martinelli still has a year left on his Arsenal contract and the club also have an option to extend the deal for a further 12 months.

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Who else could depart Arsenal this window?

Arsenal could still stay in contact with Galatasaray despite Martinelli turning down a transfer, as another star could leave.

Ethan Nwaneri, who spent half of last season on loan at Marseille, is a player the Gunners are willing to listen to offers for.

And during talks with Galatasaray, the Premier League champions have mentioned the sale of Nwaneri too.

But a similar situation could arise with the academy product, as he’s also understood to not be keen on heading to Turkey.

Arsenal have already sold Trossard, Christian Norgaard, Jakub Kiwior and Karl Hein in the transfer window so far.

And the Spaniard has spoken openly about the reality of having to sell more players, saying: “Well, we have set out some possibilities we can explore if the right possibilities come across but so far with the numbers that we have, we are happy.

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“But obviously we have to accept that there are some players that will probably have to move.”

As for incomings, Arteta has brought in Tzolis, Illan Meslier, Piero Hincapie and signed Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes for £75m.

Arsenal begin their 2026/27 campaign against Manchester City in the Community Shield in Cardiff on Sunday.

talkSPORT will have live commentary of the game from Sam Matterface and former England captain Stuart Pearce.

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