“He has to push himself with how far he can go” – Granit Xhaka backs Arsenal teammate ‘to be one of the best’

Granit Xhaka has heaped praise on Arsenal teammate Gabrial Martinelli and tipped him to become one of the best. The Swiss star added that the Brazilian has the team and players around him to help him develop more.

Martinelli has made a good start to the season with Arsenal in the Premier League. The 21-year-old has scored three goals in eight matches while also assisting once.

Speaking to the media after the win over Tottenham, Xhaka had great things to say about Martinelli. He was quoted by Mirror as saying:

"Gabriel Martinelli has a lot to be one of the best. He goes 100mph. He has to push himself with how far he can go. He has the team and everything around the help him."

Mikel Arteta praises '100mph' Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli

Granit Xhaka is not the first person to call Gabriel Martinelli a '100mph star'. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta also used the same to describe the youngster when he spoke about him last season.

Sky Sports quoted him as saying:

"He (Martinelli) trains incredibly hard, he is always willing to do more and he is not scared or afraid to take risks - and that is what I like about him. You cannot play every action at 100mph, it is impossible. It is not very efficient for you because you burn yourself out after a few minutes, and then you're just chasing a situation and not reading exactly what is needed."

He added:

"Gabi is doing much better at that. We have to try to do that without losing the passion, the energy and this capacity he has to just affect the game with the way he acts on the pitch. Every time the ball is 50/50 he is going to chase it and he's going to use his body, his speed, his technical ability to get away from you and you have to be careful, because he can attack you one v one, he can attack your back, he can make movements off the ball."

Martinelli will be looking to do better in the coming weeks to try and clinch a spot in the Brazil squad that will be heading for the Qatar World Cup in November.