Arteta's joy with “enormous talent” Martinelli

Having seen Gabriel Martinelli commit his future to the club by signing a new contact, Mikel Arteta believes the sky is the limit for our Brazilian attacker.

Gabi will remain at Emirates Stadium for the foreseeable future after putting pen to paper on a fresh deal, as he aims to continue the development that has already seen him become a mainstay in our side and score seven times in 19 Premier League outings this term.

However Mikel feels there is much more to come from our explosive forward, and crucially believes that he has the desire to keep fulfilling his potential.

On Gabi’s signing, he said: “It’s great news. We want to build all the talent and youth that we have in the squad, so it’s great to see them happy and willing to commit to the club and what we want to do for the future. He’s a player with enormous potential - he still has so many things to improve but he’s already performing at a really high level.

“He can develop physically. He can develop mentally. He can develop in terms of consistency. He can develop defensively. He can develop in the final third and in the spaces that he occupies. His numbers can be improved, and he’s so willing - that’s the best thing about Gabi.”

With one contract extension in the bag, there has been plenty of speculation surrounding other members of the squad and Arteta has admitted that conversations have been going on behind the scenes as he aims to keep his young squad together.

“Part of the plan is to extend the contracts of our biggest talents at the club and commit them for the future,” he added. “We are trying to do that. We have started with Gabi, which is good news. The others will be done whenever we can, but we have to agree on that. 

“I see everybody is really happy, really willing to continue at the club. We have to meet everybody’s expectations and timing is key on that.”

Watch or read Mikel's full pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's game with Everton