Kieran Tierney remains Arsenal top dog to his team-mates as Martinelli reveals he blows his pals out the water

Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli is seen as one of the fastest players in the Premier League - but the player himself actually reckons he isn't even the quickest in the Gunners squad.

The Brazilian winger has became a key cog in Mikel Arteta's side since the Spaniard's arrival back in 2019, scoring 43 goals in 186 matches, picking up an FA Cup winner's medal in 2020. But Martinelli believes that former Celtic star Kieran Tierney is the only player at the Emirates who can better his pace. When asked in an interview with Arsenal's club website on who is the fastest player in the squad, he replied: "I think Kieran Tierney is quicker than me to be fair! I think he’s the first one and I’m the second."

It's not the first time the Hoops youth graduate has been hailed as quickest player on the North London club's books. Back in 2021, ex Arsenal star Jack Wilshere returned to his former club to build up his fitness after he was released by Bournemouth and admitted that he was taken aback after learning that Tierney was topping the running charts in training.

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"We were doing a sprint test today," Wilshere explained, in quotes reported by Football London. "I asked the fitness guy ‘who is the fastest player, is it (Pierre-Emerick) Aubameyang?’ and he said ‘no it’s Kieran Tierney ’ – it surprised me."

Scotland full back Tierney is yet to feature for the club so far this season after he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury suffered in his country's 1-1 draw with Switzerland at Euro 2024. The 27-year-old's last appearance for Arsenal came in the Community Shield victory against Manchester City in August 2023 before he joined up with La Liga side Real Sociedad on a season-long loan.

Tierney faces stiff competition from Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jurrien Timber and summer signing Riccardo Calafiori to force his way back into Arteta's plans, but earlier this week the Gunners boss Arteta revealed that the defender is close to making his return to action. He said: "I think he’s quite close, he looks good, really sharp. He hasn’t trained with the team yet, hopefully he can do that in the next week or two."

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