Gabriel Martinelli has been the talk of the town after scoring an 86th-minute winner against Manchester City in their last outing. The 22-year-old came off the bench and fired in the winner to claim all three points against the defending champions.
While the Brazilian international has been doing wonders for the London club over the past few seasons, he could have played for rivals Manchester United. Martinelli wanted to play for the Red Devils back in the day and he even trained with their youth squad.
Back when the 22-year-old was a part of Brazilain club Ituano’s youth team, he travelled to Manchester, England on four separate occasions to train with the Red Devils. He even featured for their under-18 team in a friendly.
Martinelli had his heart set on a move to United. He was desperate to join the Manchester-based club but things didn’t go according to plan. The Red Devils decided against signing the Brazil international back in the day.
Luiz Antonio Moraes who was the 22-year-old coach during his days in the Ituano’s youth team talked about how disappointed he was after missing out on a move to the Red Devils. Moraes said Martinelli was sad but he bounced back from the disappointment quite early and just kept working.
Moraes felt getting rejected by United might have pushed him to work even harder. He feels the 22-year-old has worked very hard to get at the top and he is a great example for every young player.
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