defender Cedric Soares has paid Gabriel Martinelli the ultimate compliment by comparing his young teammate to superstar .
After featuring only sparingly in the first few matches of the season, the 20-year-old has become a regular starter since December onwards and is even keeping out of the team.
His performances earned him a call-up to Tite’s senior Brazil squad for the most recent international matches, making his debut off the bench in a 4-0 win over Chile.
Cedric has been very impressed with Martinelli this season and has now made the bold move of comparing the youngster to his Portugal teammate Ronaldo, suggesting they have a similar eye for goal.
‘Gabi has this aim for goal. He likes to attack the space, like Cristiano,’ Cedric told ahead of Arsenal’s Monday night clash with Crystal Palace.
‘He likes to score goals, like everyone does. But Gabi has this willingness to fight.
‘Even when he doesn’t play, he keeps working the same way.
‘He is an easy young kid to talk with. You talk and you can see he listens to you. He’s talented, but the way he works is fantastic.’
Cedric has been performing excellently himself in recent months in the absence of Takehiro Tomiyasu, and even though the Japanese star could return against Palace, the Portuguese defender is backing himself to hold onto the position.
He continued: ‘You need to believe in yourself. I came to Arsenal because of what I did in my career and by doing every week what I aim for. I was fighting for it and then achieved this.
‘And now, I need to fight for my spot. This is completely natural and normal. You need to keep working and believing in your skills, knowledge, performance and mentality.
‘In a natural way the truth always comes out. As we say in Portugal, it’s like water in olive oil, the truth comes to the top.
‘I used to have one of my biggest friends growing up, maybe even now he is still one of my closest friends, when he didn’t play he was completely gone, upset and wouldn’t talk to the coach.
‘You can be upset — you are human — but what you cannot do is stop trying and stop fighting. Maybe it’s from my family or the way I grow up, but I just try to focus on my job and treat my training like a game. When I am not playing, the training is a game.’
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