Former Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez appears to have been impressed with Gabriel Martinelli's performance against Leeds United last night.
The Gunners reached the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup after goals from Calum Chambers and Eddie Nketiah helped them ease to a 2-0 victory.
Mikel Arteta's side are now undefeated in eight games in all competitions and finally look as though they're building towards something at the Emirates Stadium.
Nevertheless, Martinelli has had a difficult time of late.
With Arsenal's lack of European competition, the 20-year-old has struggled for game time so far this season, but he'll be hoping to continue improving when given the chance to do so.
If he can get firing on all cylinders, Arsenal may have found themselves a special talent - at least according to Martinez, that is.
Martinelli took to Instagram to have his say on the Leeds victory, as he captioned a post: "Love playing, love winning."
Martinez, who played with Martinelli at Arsenal before moving to Aston Villa in the summer of 2020, replied "Fenómeno".
The comment may or may not have been a reference to Ronaldo Nazario - one of Brazil's greatest ever players - who was well known as 'O Fenómeno'.
If that indeed was Martinez's intention, then it wouldn't have been the first time someone compared the Arsenal youngster to the former Real Madrid and Barcelona star.
In fact, another Brazilian legend in Ronaldinho, who played alongside Ronaldo with the national team that won the World Cup in 2002, has already predicted a bright future for Martinelli.
Speaking in January of last year, as per the Mirror, he said: "We as Brazilians are very excited about him and his future. It is one thing to have the talent, but another at the age of 18 to have the confidence.
"He reminds me of Ronaldo. His first season in Europe, he scored 30 goals and people were thinking: '‘who is this 18-year-old Brazilian kid?' He wanted the ball, he would run at players, there was no fear no matter what players or team he was playing against - and I see that similar attitude in Martinelli.
"He just wants to be on the ball and score goals. Ronaldo went on to be the best player in the world, and that can also be the aim of Martinelli."
The Arsenal forward has a long way to go to reach those heights, but if Arteta and the Gunners can get the best out of him, they'll certainly reap the rewards.
