After being the subject of some Arsenal transfer rumours in recent weeks, the Brazilian defender Gabriel Paulista, who is currently starring for La Liga club Villareal, spoke out to welcome the interest from the Gunners. The 24-year old said that the whole thing was being handled by his agent, but he made no secret of wanting the transfer to happen, as a report in The Telegraph reveals.
Paulista said, “If I go to Arsenal it will be excellent. But if it’s not finalised then I am relaxed. I am focused on my work here.
“My agent is working on making sure I continue being calm. Playing in the Premier League is one of my dreams. I have spoken to my agent about this.”
We have all seen this sort of thing and it does not always mean that there is concrete interest from Arsene Wenger. However, the Villareal manager Marcelino has been speaking in his pre-match press conference for the Copa Del Rey clash with Getafe and he confirmed the interest. As reported by ESPN, he also refused to criticise his centre back for that statement and suggested that it was just a matter of agreeing the terms of the transfer between the clubs.
The coach said, “I was not upset at what Gabriel said. Any player can give an opinion. That is his way of thinking and acting, he is a tremendous kid and an exemplary professional. He has his head here, and wants to keep showing his worth here.
“On a sporting level I would prefer him to stay, but you must look at what the player thinks and what is the possible offer, which might be impossible for the club to turn down.”
But that does not mean the deal is done. It seems that Villareal want something close to Paulista’s buy out clause of 20 million euros, while Wenger has apparently offered around £6 million. And that is not the only issue, as there is a concern that the defender might have to wait for a work permit to play in the Premier League as he is yet to ber capped for the Brazil international side.
So it seems clear that there is real interest from Arsenal but plenty of complications. Typical Gunners eh?
yes!
analysts ranking him in TOP 5 La Liga young defenders this season
This guy looks perfect for Arsenal. Aggressive, ambidextrous, good on the ball and most importantly can fill in three defensive positions astutely
I’ve not seen this guy, but he sounds like the ideal replacement for Mertesacker. My main concern right now is if Wenger is actually trying to strengthen our squad or are all these rumours just smoke. Remember a couple of years ago all the fuss about M’vila. He was practically in the changing room, but nothing happened. Then at the end of the season Lille’s Chairman spoke and said that his club had never had any contact at all from Wenger or Arsenal F.C. whatsoever. It seems that our Manager and his board don’t really care for us to be informed or share anything which is not deemed to be our concern. My own choices would be Sissoko and Van Dijk in case he is interested..
Chambers is more Mertesackers heir, more static and reliant on positioning. Gabriel is a less cultured, more physical/aggressive Koscielny. If it goes through and he hits the ground running a Kos/Gab pairing would be a nightmare for any PL strikeforce.
Gabriel isn’t physical in terms of strength he is a great intercepter and aggressor he is also good in the air and has played two games at left back this season meaning he would become third choice cb and lb. He is what you consider value for money if we get him under 10m. His market value is arround 3.5m hence our 6m bid, but as its january and he has played well this season he would cost North of 8m. If gnabry is up for the move we could loan him to them as he needs game time after a lengthy absent.
If you ever hear about a defender that can play 2-3 positions then that player is not top class in their natural position, those kind of players never make it to the very top. If you buy a DF then they should be just that. I have realised that players who come with this so called reputation of being able to play in different positions turn out to be average in all those positions, thy are not specialists in a particular position so they will keep trying others..
Look at all the best defenders, Cannavaro, Campbell, Adams, Vidic, Rio, Carvalho, Terry, Ledley King, Woodgate etc.. They all played in one position and mastered it..
Maldini played along the back line. Che left back is really a right back and many consider him best in prem. There are many more but am not bothered although i do think you have a point to a certain extent, there must be exceptions as am sure your aware.
Yes but the problem is that the Arsenal transfer negotiators never dive in head first for example like yourself Muffy and come out all smiling! This could drag on and never know Manure might step in and close the deal.
Wenger was in Switzerland for a sponsorship thing yesterday, but to get a work permit you need 2 go to FIFA HQ, Zürich & Rumours are that his agent has spent last 2 days at passport office
Palermo could cash-in on Paulo Dybala soon, as contract talks didn’t go well at all has 1 & half year left in contract with Campbell leaving arsenal should go for him
1.5 years on the contract is a very long time. And for 30 mil pounds it will NEVER gonna happen. You can quote me on that.
he will be sold for less than that now maybe difficult but in summer we have better chance
His price will drop in the summer with a year left. We should offer them 15m plus clauses or players.
Eg 15m upfront, (ryo miyaichi),+ 5m if he wins any trophy in his first year
That deal is worth £23m
This is the going rate for top young players in seria A eg lamela,jovetic
32 million buy out clause- thats alexis sanchez level- u must not know wenger lol
Haven’t seen him play….I hope he’s what we need
I have fortunately watched Dybala played more than 4 times now since Arsenal was linked o him.
He a is very fast, pacey and meticulous like average Argentine striker !!! His finishing is awesome!
Defensively he is in the top 3 for attacking players in Europe so he has a great work rate alexis the second comming.
Mark my words : it is January transfer window. The purpose for it is to try and fix whatever is broken (or improve) in your team. That means the player should be able to be part of the game in maximum one month (if not early). Now, if he’s injured (like KK) that happens later but the fact that he needs a work permit is a killer. Look at Campbell, took him one year to come back for us.
My take? C’mon people you all know how it goes : if a player is linked with us way before actual contact then the deal is off, if a player needs work permit deal is off.
There is a catch though, maybe he holds an european passport or something similar (like a residence permit). I guess the HR geniuses at the club should sort this out.
i hope so, i like the look of him
with kos ongoing problems, and pers decline- he is needed very badly
It’s official arsenal announce the signing of Krystian Bielik on arsenal.com got a good player (for future)
He look so skinny in our shirt.
Bulk up your body like Gilberto Silva, please.
😀
Welcome to Arsenal Family.
Thumbs up for Gabriel Paulista
Thumbs down for Winston Reid.
hilarious that any of you believe reid is better
Reids successful tackles rate is less than fifty percent, fourty something. Whereas Paulistas is well over the fifty mark into the sixties or seventies, sorry couldnt be bothered looking it up but the Brazilian is head and shoulders from what i remember.
Gabriel Paulista stats:
Avg.Pass length – 20m
Avg.Pass Acc – 85%
Avg.Def actions – 9
Total Def errors – 3
Tackle success – 54%
Headed Duel success – 60%
Fouls Committed – 52%
Winston Reid stats:
Avg.Pass length – 22m
Avg.Pass Acc – 80%
Avg.Def actions – 12
Total Def errors – 0
Tackle success – 46%
Headed Duel success – 66%
Fouls Committed – 39%
All data courtesy of Squawka. YingYang69’s BS meter 100%
Paulista looks like Martin Keown….good enough for me…
Brazilian and defender. I just keep getting world cup flashbacks, and then I wake from that dream, only to awake from another dream of Santos in our back four, making plans before kick-off to do the classic dinner and a movie with RVP.
But seriously, I’m not going to pretend like this guy was on my radar at all. Looking at his stats and a few clips (I know that’s not enough to judge), also having spoken to people who do know what he is about, he seems more than worth the punt.
Jib, I don’t think he’s another David Luiz, but if he is maybe we can get another 50 mill from PSG
@BarryL Haha, that’s wishful thinking! Boggles my mind to this day (and will continue to boggle for many more days after) just how the hell they able to sell a defender that can’t defend for that price.
and get in the UEFA team of the year to boot. Something very, very dodgy going on there.
Bielik is a CDM and can also play CB.
Personally I think Wenger just started and finished his winter transfer.
He also agreed a first pro contract for a CB in the academy (like anyone significant came out of that youth policy crap).
We won at City and, for some fans (well the delusional ones… Heard Arsenal tv? it was almost jokingly funny and ridiculous), we are back…!! Back to what? Top four possibly, yes, but as for the league title we are, as usual, not involve (but that is not the objective anyway, so fine).
We need a serious CB and Wenger needs to extend Coquelin contract… Yes, his contract finishes in the summer… He got on the pencil very quickly to extend Mertesacker stay (who is finished, do not make a mistake about that) as well as Arteta (finished too).
He made to also extend the “youth” (the smoking club and the rest) with improve wages.
For me, 2 years will be long… I just hope he won’t extend again and ends up managing around 70 years old (well, nothing is impossible at Arsenal).
The next manager, if not a puppet from the board, will make things right.
Win the league in 2017 (that is what he said!!)?
Players like Koscielny, Sanchez, Ozil and more will be gone by then. Mediocrity has never been an incentive to stay.
@Lockay
My man,i now understood that the reason Wenger can get away by being so careless and irresponsible in transfer window is due in big fact because of the fans.He just need a couple of good results and the team whose finish place is always fourth is fine for the fans.
The guy is not put on any pressure by anyone,fans in the stadium should demonstrate,make him feel bad in the public eyes.
Pardew got fed up from the Newcastle fans,the same can happen for him.
We still need a DM beside Lecoq,someone of 6foot2size.Stop with Makelele,he has Essien beside him to break the legs.
We need a DM too so if Wenger is ambitious let him show it.i
climb back in your hole lockay its boring
cant think of anything more original than to slate other fans as delusional ,,, so tired of this little clan on here and your opinions that have to be agreed with ,,, beating man city was something to be happy about ,, fact ,, the amount of fans on here saying we can never beat the big teams when we do then were delusional for being pleased ,, weird
DO you know why Wenger doesn’t spend every transfer window ? Look at how long it took us to adapt with our new signings after a WC season. Also take into consideration that a winter signing can be the worst gamble if the player doesn’t adapt to EPL style (like Ozil). Arsenal buy specific players that suit our style and unfortunately not anyone can just join the our club from a foreign team and expect to do well in their first season. Is Falcao successful ? How about Torres in Chelsea and he was an EPL player, there’s also Soldado and Joevetic just to name a few… big signings don’t guarantee success. And it’s thanks to Wenger we have Sanchez and the team is getting better, after all he always emphasized on a player needing desire. Cazorla and Sanchez are proof that he is slowly changing the team’s mentality to pre-Fabregas era.
Villareal on sky tonight against Getafe, Chance to see Paulisto in action. Better than watching Spuds anyway. Thumbs downers out in force today. It’s difficult to work out exactly how these boys are thinking…no good asking them though is it?
Sorry to burst the bubble lads but name a player we have heard a romur, been linked with that we have gone on to sign.
Hope we do sign him, but cmon, this happen eds every year, expect the unexpected
It’s Wenger remember.
Bielik???
Subject to the visa, looks like a very good buy.
Just wish Wenger had made such signings before the season kicked off
Always a couple of key areas short, which has been in the defensive area for couple of years and never fixed.
That’s the difference between fighting to win the league or fighting for 4th place
@sollygunner
May be you should go back inside your hole or f*ck back to where you come from.
The all point of your comment (except the stupid “thing” about the “hole”) was about the Man City game.
I think you have forgotten very quickly that we were ALREADY out of the league title (but again like most of the deluded, it is not what you are looking for… Top four still the main objective for the fools, like we can win the CL!!)…
It might be good enough for you (mediocrity and nothing accomplished for years attitude), but some fans still want to win the league and even the CL one day.
Wait for the end of the season and celebrate (like we won the league) when we finish fourth, then you can say (to whoever is willing to listen) that we are still better than Tottenham and a top club (well not in football terms because top clubs win trophies… Correct me if I am wrong, but we f*cking don’t!).
Next time write something constructive partner!
when have you ever wrote anything constructive ,,,
im not getting carried away because weve beaten man city neither am i denying that we have had a bad season and i also get frustrated with things at the club but the fact is we have had a few good games in a row ,, players seem to be coming back into form and from injury and we beat man city impressively in a good game witch most on here said was impossible these are good things to be happy about and that is not delusional ,, partner ,,
If you want a comparison Gabriel is the next Pepe. He is very aggressive in his defending and not the ball player you’re thinking of at all. He’s decent with the ball as are most South Americans, but he’s all about his aggression and physicality/athleticism.
I have never got close to understanding this “mediocrity” “delusional” “4th place trophy” slanging match that a couple of dozen regulars on here frequently indulge themselves with, something which is thrown at other contributors who have a different opinion, more often not when other arguments fail.
Is there really a group of supporters who honestly believe they have assumed some sort of moral and intellectual superiority over the average Arsenal punter merely by shouting “we want/deserve to win the PL/UCL and unless the rest of you get yourselves worked up and as angry as us you cannot be true Arsenal supporters”?
What is the source of the real anger here? Will it make you all happy if everyone chips in and gets angry – we can create one big virtual circle jerk on here, slap each other on the backs like good blokes and all slag off our club in unison. Perhaps, rather than falling out with and slagging off a sizeable part of the fan-base – these elite cronies could perhaps articulate in language we can understand PRECISELY what you guys are doing with your anger at Arsenal, other than banging away on your keyboard and coming on here telling everyone how it should be. Do you think if everyone rolled over and started hanging on your every word that things would change? There is no end game here.
Boycott the merchandise, phone Wenger, have an Emirates sit-in (assuming you have ever been there), buy out the club, just do something other than yelling through the ether at other supporters via your PC. Best idea would be to do as one of your followers Grim Bligh above suggests, organise and go on a protest march and we can watch you on TV and finally be able to applaud your conviction. You can come back on here and tell us all about it and what you achieved. You’d certainly get more respect than whining on here every day.
well said
@sollygunner
Voilà, I knew “insults” and unkind comments were not necessary in order for 2 fans to understand each other…
I got your point and I agree, but are we not going through the same path every year?
I am not “criticising” by pure pleasure, I would rather talk about “how many points we need to secure the league” or “who will be out next victim in the CL before we reach the final”… !!
I am not asking for much really, just a fan legitimate hopes.
We have a manager talking about “vision of grandeur” in 2017… I mean even you, you must wonder how is he going to achieve that?
That is a massive 2 years progression as well as keeping the current squad (it won’t happen, some players do want trophies) and improving it significantly?
Gazidis and the shareholders (I guess) have decided to freeze the highest ticket prices in world football… Well I guess next season will start with a breeze of hope amongst fans…