Roc Nation client Martinelli heads to Al Hilal
Roc Nation Sports client Gabriel Martinelli is set to join Al Hilal after the Saudi Pro League club reached a verbal agreement with Arsenal.
The package is worth more than €65m, including add-ons, with Martinelli now authorised to travel within the next 24 hours. The Brazilian winger will sign a long-term contract with Al Hilal once the final formalities are completed.
For Arsenal, this is one of the biggest outgoing deals in the club’s history. For Al Hilal, it is another major attacking statement after an ambitious summer built around elite-level signings.
Arsenal accept major sale
Arsenal had been open to an exit if the right proposal arrived, and Al Hilal have now reached the level needed to move the deal forward.
Martinelli joined Arsenal from Ituano in 2019 and became one of the symbols of Mikel Arteta’s rebuild. His pace, pressing, direct running and emotional connection with supporters made him an important figure during the club’s rise back to the top of English football.
But the squad has changed. Arsenal have been reshaping their attack, with new signings and other major market moves changing the hierarchy around the forward line. Martinelli’s role had become less secure, and the Al Hilal offer gives Arsenal a major fee for a player who was no longer untouchable.
Al Hilal add another Premier League name
Al Hilal have moved aggressively in the final days of the window, and Martinelli gives them a winger with Premier League experience, Brazil national-team pedigree and Champions League exposure.
The Saudi club are not only buying a name. They are buying a player still in his peak years. Martinelli is 25, explosive, intense without the ball and capable of playing from the left or across the front line.
That makes the move different from some Saudi deals built around older stars. Martinelli arrives as a player with major football still ahead of him, not as a late-career signing.
The numbers behind the move
Martinelli leaves Arsenal with a serious body of work.
Reports around the deal credit him with 278 appearances and 62 goals for the club since arriving from Brazil. He was part of Arsenal’s FA Cup-winning squad in 2020, played a major role in the Arteta era and helped Arsenal win the Premier League in 2025/26.
His final league season was quieter by his own standards. StatMuse lists him with 30 Premier League appearances, one goal and four assists in 2025/26, with 1,081 league minutes. That reduced output helps explain why Arsenal were willing to listen, but it does not erase the wider value he built across seven years in north London.
Agency angle
This is another major international transfer for Roc Nation Sports, the agency that represents Martinelli as part of its strong Brazilian football platform, led by Federico Pena in Brazil.
Roc Nation’s football roster includes names such as Vinicius Junior, Endrick, Yan Diomande, Federico Dimarco and Gabriel Martinelli. The agency’s Brazil operation, led by Frederico Pena after the TFM integration, has become one of the most powerful routes between Brazilian talent, European clubs and global commercial markets.
Martinelli’s move is important because it shows Roc Nation operating beyond traditional European pathways. This is not only a transfer from Arsenal to Al Hilal. It is a high-value move into Saudi football for a Brazil international still at a strong age, with salary, sporting role and global positioning all part of the package.
A new chapter after seven Arsenal years
Martinelli’s Arsenal story ends with emotion, but also with logic.
He arrived as a raw teenager from Ituano and leaves as an established international winger after more than 250 club appearances. Arsenal receive a huge fee. Al Hilal get a player who can immediately lift their attack. Martinelli gets a long-term contract and a central role in one of Saudi football’s biggest projects.
The final step is travel, medical checks and contract signing. Once complete, Gabriel Martinelli will become one of the biggest Brazilian moves of the summer and another major Roc Nation client transfer at the top end of the global market.
