A FAN says he bought two tickets for an Arsenal match — and found they were given free to Gunners star Gabriel Martinelli.
Nathan Shaw, 51, paid £350 for the pair of tickets clearly marked “Player Complimentary”.
They were for seats in the away end for his team’s 2-0 win at Leicester on Saturday.
He said that after buying them, he was called by a club official saying they were originally allocated to injured £180,000-per-week Brazilian striker Martinelli, 23.
But last night, Arsenal insiders said Martinelli had not applied to use the tickets.
They were put in a central pot and redistributed to a contractor who asked for some. Sales manager Nathan, from Hawkhurst, Kent, snapped the tickets up from website Livefootballtickets for £175 each.
He had failed to get two of the 3,200 seats in the away end for himself and pal Cillian Oliver when Arsenal sold out their allocation of the £30 tickets.
Nathan, who has a season ticket for home games, got a message from the site telling him to pick up the tickets at a collection point at Leicester’s ground before the match, and to bring ID.
The message named a club worker.
Our source said the contractor had given the tickets to a pal who sold them to the site.
Nathan said: “I was delighted to get tickets but stunned when I picked them up and they were clearly complimentary ones given to a player.
“I got a call as well before the game, and the guy told me they were Martinelli’s.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Arsenal fans love it as Martinelli cracks Ted Lasso joke while Turner teaches him and Nketiah about MLS ahead of US tour” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6323025263112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]“I don’t blame Martinelli and suspect he might have just not used them and someone else has sold them on. I doubt he needs the money.”
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Martinelli, who did not travel to the Midlands.
Arsenal and the site were approached for comment.
