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Los Angeles — Brazilian, Gabriel Martinelli, scored in his Arsenal debut on Monday as the English Premier League club launched their pre-season tour of the United States with a 3-0 friendly win over the Colorado Rapids.
Bukayo Saka and James Olayinka also scored for the Gunners, who cruised to the victory at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in suburban Denver.
Martinelli, the 18-year-old forward signed from Ituano on July 2, was given a surprise start in attack by Unai Emery and sent an early chance wide.Saka (17) was an energetic presence and put Arsenal up 1-0 in the 13th minute as he collected a through-ball from Eddie Nketiah.
Another teenager – 18-year-old Olayinka – doubled the score in the 29th, seizing a stray pass from defence and racing in to fire into the top left corner of the net.Martinelli, having missed his early chance, capped the scoring in the 61st when he slotted home a cross from close range.The Rapids, in the midst of the Major League Soccer season, fielded a mostly reserve side that featured several players from the lower-rung Colorado Springs Switchbacks.
Arsenal, too, started a reserve team as they begin their build up to the Premier League season after again failing to secure a Champions League berth.
The tour hasn’t started without controversy. Captain Laurent Koscielny refused to travel to the US, and a group of influential Arsenal supporters’ organisations published a statement on Monday hitting out at Stan Kroenke’s “passive ownership”.
Under a hashtag #WeCareDoYou the statement decried a “soulless” atmosphere at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium and a lack of transfer strategy.Kroenke, who began investing in the club in 2007 through his company Kroenke Sports Enterprises and took full ownership in 2018, also owns the Rapids as well as the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams.
Meanwhile, Celtic manager Neil Lennon has warned Arsenal that the Scottish champions won’t let Kieran Tierney leave on the cheap after rejecting a second bid for the defender.Lennon is believed to rate Tierney at £25 million ($31 million) but Arsenal’s latest bid is reported to have fallen short of that price tag. Celtic plan to stand firm in their valuation of the Scotland international and Lennon on Tuesday said: “I don’t know what Arsenal’s financial state is, I know what ours is and we are quite comfortable with the situation at the moment.
“There has been a second bid, the bid has been rejected, and it’s as you were. Whether they come in again or not, I can’t answer that.“It doesn’t surprise me there are potential suitors out there for a player of his quality but he’s our player, he’s on a long-term contract and we don’t want him to go.”
Lennon was asked if Arsenal’s bid was disrespectful given Manchester United recently paid Crystal Palace £50 million for young right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka. “Disrespectful is strong but I do feel our valuation of Kieran is correct,” Lennon said. “We can’t do anything about what clubs do in England.Fifty million for Wan-Bissaka is a lot of money. —AFP.
Online Reporter