"How Manchester United rejected me in 2015" - Gabriel Martinelli

Gabriel Martinelli has revealed how Manchester United missed their opportunity to sign him years ago.

The 20 years old Brazilian is currently having a great season with the Gunners so far.

Martinelli revealed that he close to becoming a Manchester United player in 2015, but the Red Devils didn't show interest in him despite undergoing trials.

In a recent interview, the forward admitted he felt lost after he was rejected by Manchester United.

Reportminds Blog understands that Martinelli did some trials with Manchester United between 2015 and 2017.

But things didn't go well which made him return to Brazil and signed his first professional deal with Ituano.

“There was a project with Manchester United; I did some trials there. It didn’t work out, but I went four or five times there,” Martinelli said.

“Manchester United had some scouts in Brazil, and they saw me playing, they had a meeting with my father, and then it worked out."

He  spoke about meeting Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba who were at United as at the time. 

He said: “Then there was this time I met [Paul] Pogba, and Ibra [Zlatan Ibrahimovic] was another time, when I was already a little older, I think it was the third time I went. And that was a project for when I turned 18. If they really wanted to, I would move.

“We saw that… but when I arrived at 17, which was the last time I went to Manchester, I went back to Brazil, and they said they didn’t want me, so that was it, I would come home to practice."

Gabriel Martinelli said that he was a huge fan of Manchester United and he dreamt of playing at Old Trafford stadium as a child. 

The Brazilian said: “Since I was 13, I’ve had this project with Manchester; I’ve always had it in my head, ‘Hey, I’m going to Manchester, whatever, when I turn 18.’ Then when you reach this age, in the year you are 17, the guys say, “Hey, we don’t want it anymore.” I said, “Hey, what am I going to do now?’”

Meanwhile, Arsenal later signed him for £6m In 2019, and he as grown to become one of the important players at Arsenal. 

Gabriel Martinelli was included in coach Tite 26 man World Cup squad that travelled to Qatar.