Martinelli makes Champions League demand in clear message over Arsenal future

Gabriel Martinelli wants to stay at Arsenal for life - but insists the club are too big to not be in the Champions League.

The Brazilian, who is enjoying his most consistent run in the starting lineup, currently has a contract which stretches until the end of the 2023/24 season.

Arsenal hold an option to extend that for a further 12 months and all signs are pointing towards him being a major part of the future under manager Mikel Arteta.

Still just 20, Martinelli perfectly aligns with Arteta's vision of creating a youthful, talented squad which is capable of competing for a number of years.

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But in the present, Arsenal are enjoying an impressive Premier League campaign, finding themselves in the driving seat to secure a return to the Champions League for the first time since 2017.

Currently, they are just two points off fourth-placed Manchester United, but have played three games fewer with their destiny firmly in their own hands.

Martinelli has backed the team assembled by Arteta and technical director Edu to achieve plenty in the future and has claimed he is happy to stay in north London for the rest of his career.

"We have a young group, we have a lot of time ahead of us, players with a lot of quality, I think we will achieve great things," Martinelli told ESPN Brasil.

"Our focus is the Champions League. Fighting for that top four. A club like Arsenal has to be in the Champions League. It's our total focus.

"We always want more. Of course, Arsenal are a giant team. If I can, I'll stay here my whole life. I want to conquer things, as I said, I want to stay here and win titles, with these wonderful fans, my teammates."

Signed as an 18-year-old in the summer of 2019, much has been promised of the talented forward, but he has admitted that the step up from minnows Ituano was a massive one - paying tribute to former teammate Emi Martinez in helping him settle.

"It was a giant leap for me. I was at Ituano, I lived in Itu, and I came to play at Arsenal, living in London," he explained. "It was a little complicated, but my family was always with me, they always helped me at all times, off and on the field as well. At the club, I always had the support of Emi too.

"He helped a lot, he always helped me. His wife speaks Portuguese, so does he. He was very important to me, he helped me adapt to the club, to the country.

"With my family here, it became a little easier. But it was a big leap, it was just a bit of a good one."