Roma Targets Martinelli as Ideal Left-Winger for Gasperini

Roma’s market strategy this summer has been built around one clear demand from Gian Piero Gasperini: a right-footed forward who can attack from the left with aggression, intensity and end product. It is the role that has powered so many of his sides, and the club know they cannot afford to get it wrong for 2026-27.

They have already trawled the top end of the market. Mason Greenwood, Antonio Nusa, Alejandro Garnacho – big names, different stages of their careers, but all capable of playing that inverted role from the left. Talks, contacts, negotiations of varying depth have come and gone. None have reached the finish line.

So Roma have turned to London.

Martinelli moves into focus

According to Corriere dello Sport, sporting director Tony D’Amico has now placed Gabriel Martinelli at the top of his alternative list. On paper, he is almost a tailor-made Gasperini forward: relentless runner, direct dribbler, and a right-footed winger who loves to cut inside from the left and finish.

On the ground at Arsenal, though, his situation has grown complicated.

Martinelli, 25, is heading into the final year of his deal at The Emirates. Public signals of a renewal have been minimal. At the same time, the arrival of Christos Tzolis has added fresh competition on the flanks and nudged the Brazilian further down Mikel Arteta’s hierarchy.

A player once seen as a cornerstone now risks becoming a luxury. For D’Amico, that uncertainty represents an opening.

Roma know exactly what they would be buying: a winger who can stretch the pitch, press high, then knife inside onto his stronger foot. It is the profile Gasperini has requested and built his attacking patterns around, and Martinelli fits it as cleanly as any of the earlier, more complicated targets.

The price of ambition

There is a problem. Several, in fact, and all of them financial.

Corriere dello Sport reports that Arsenal have no intention of offering Martinelli at a discount, even with his contract running down. Any deal is expected to land in the €40–45 million range before bonuses – a figure that would test Roma’s budget and their willingness to go all-in on a player whose minutes dipped last season.

Then there are the wages. Martinelli’s current salary package at Arsenal sits at a level that would strain Roma’s internal structure. Matching or even approaching those numbers would require careful juggling and, almost certainly, at least one significant outgoing.

For now, D’Amico is studying the margins: what Arsenal will really accept, what room there is on the player’s side, and how far Roma can stretch without breaking the model the Friedkin ownership has tried to impose.

Rodrigo Mora, the parallel track

With so many variables around Martinelli, Roma have not allowed themselves to become hostage to a single name.

Running alongside the Brazilian pursuit is another track: Rodrigo Mora of Porto. The 19-year-old is emerging as one of the most intriguing attacking prospects in Portugal, and Roma see him as a younger, more attainable version of the same idea – a wide forward with the technical quality and movement patterns Gasperini wants on that left channel.

Reports over the weekend suggested Roma are prepared to move decisively, buying Mora outright from Porto rather than negotiating a loan or complex formula. The logic is clear: if Martinelli proves too expensive in both fee and wages, they still need a winger who can deliver the same tactical function, even if the experience level is different.

Mora would be a bet on upside. Martinelli, by contrast, would be a statement that Roma are ready to pay for the finished article.

Galatasaray enter the frame

Roma are not alone in circling around Martinelli.

From Turkey, Galatasaray have already made their move, with reports of a bid in the region of £34 million. That figure underlines how much faith there still is in Martinelli’s ceiling, despite a recent dip in his goalscoring output.

For Arsenal, that kind of offer sets a benchmark. For Roma, it raises the stakes. Any hope of squeezing a bargain out of Martinelli’s contract situation looks optimistic when the reigning Turkish champions are willing to put that sort of money on the table.

The Giallorossi now stand at a familiar crossroads: stretch financially to secure a player Gasperini views as almost ideal, or pivot to a younger, cheaper project like Mora and trust the coach to mould him.

The market clock is ticking, the left flank remains unclaimed, and Roma must decide how much that one, very specific role in Gasperini’s system is really worth.