We have all heard about how tough it can be for a player coming to a club like Arsenal, or any of our Premier League rivals for that matter, and having to adapt to the way that football is played in England. The rigours of the Premier League are famous, where any club can beat any other on their day and the pace and physicality can be a huge shock to players from other countries.
Then there is the matter of not having a winter break and you can understand why the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla who hit the ground running are probably rarer than the likes of Mesut Ozil that take some time to settle in.
For players that do not even speak English and are not even from Europe, the culture shock can be as difficult as the difference on the pitch, but the Gunners’ new Brazilian centre back Gabriel, who had only played 50 games for La Liga club Villarreal after leaving his home in South America, has not suffered any of these problems, as an interview on the Arsenal website shows.
The 24-year old defender said, “My biggest problem is just speaking but in terms of settling, I am totally adapted here at the club and with my team-mates, who are all wonderful and friendly.
“It’s a family club. Everyone that works at the club is respectful and very attentive, they are always at your disposal.
“So I am very happy and so is my family. My wife and my son are happy. If my wife and my son are happy I feel even happier, and it gives me more strength and more will to work.”
The way Gabriel’s career has gone through the gears and the performances that Arsenal fans have already seen on the pitch since his January transfer, combined with his easy going nature and adaptability off the pitch is very good news for his new club and suggests to me that we are going to have a real star on our hands.
Can he and Koscielny give Arsenal the platform to really bring back the glory days back to north London?
I can’t believe city paid against the odd for mangala and failed to identify defenders like Gabriel …..thx Wenger for that …
And i still remember some crying that wenger allowed city to sign him as if he has first option on him
Gabriel seriously reminds me of Thiago Silva at Milan. I think their resemblance is uncanning and that makes me very hopeful for him to have a succesful Arsenal career!
Gab, chambers and hayden’re the future CB of arsenal
god i keep forgetting about hayden, he can play CDM too.
No Doubt about it. wenger found a gem there.
He will soon be a stalwart in the Brazilian team and can only grow in confidence and ability because of it. I like him because he is a no nonsense, steely and educated player who knows the art of defending.
ArseOverTit, true dat …I like that no nonsense attitude too.why can’t mert’s just clear the ball instead of back passes … 🙂
Because Per is a frustrated Striker trapped in the body of a Big Friendly Giant.;)
Per for me lacks too many things to now be a capable defender (especially in the PL).
Gabriel has played begger all
since he’s been here so
I have no idea how he will fare.
Just seen you tube clips from Spain where
he ran around like a holding midfielder.
England have big win v the mighty
Lithuania ranked 94th, 30 places
behind giants Albania and Rwanda
25 places behind Burkino faso
but they are in front of the Faroes….just
Arsenal has a recent history of
signing a whole slew of useless
strikers like
Bendtner Vela Park
Chamakh Sanogo Podolski
Girvinho Adebayor Campbell
Wellbeck and Chamberlain.
Are our scouts blind, stupid or both?
Sorry bro, it’s only you who’s blind and stupid. LOL!
What the hafiz is wrong with u Dave?
bit unfair on vela the jury is still out on ox and to his credit wenger made a bit of money on adebayor but otherwise i can only assume that those thumbs down are from 4th place junkies…its a shockingly mediocre list
No its more a case of people preferring good to bad and not dwelling in shit, loving criticism, pessimism and hatred. Its not a healthy way to be.
The same things were being said about Vermealen. He was being called the Arsenal Vidic at one point, was appointed team captain even and few had a problem with that, then this Captain spent most of his available time on the bench and eventually went to Barcelona for funny money which led us to be accused of conning them.
Gabriel needs a whole season to show what he can do, he needs to sort out the language barrier like everybody else has managed before now and then we will see.
Yeah I remember that too. He even scored 1 goal in his debut (1-6 won over Everton) and 4 more goals in 4 weeks. He was great, but I feel sorry for him after some series of injuries, he never comeback to his best. But, I got feeling that Gabriel won’t emulate that sad story. His companionship with Koscielny is a remaking of Adams – Bold duet. COYG!!
The signs were always there with Vermaelen, he gained a reputation early on largely because he was scoring goals and I think his defending was less scrutinised as a result. Defensively, Song outshined him when they played together in defence. He got caught out of position far too often for a defender of his repute and looked like he could have been a better DM. Never thought Vidic was as great as his reputation suggested either tbh, but he was far better than Tommy. He could be dragged out of position at times, but far less frequently and you actually had to work to make him mess up.
Early impressions of Gabriel are far more positive from a defensive standpoint and the fact he’s come from Villarreal having helped them go through a long period of defensive stability (forget the stat, but something like a few goals conceded over a period of months) and that he’s won awards as a young player in Brazil bodes well imo. Looks like a physically stronger and mentally more determined version of Koscielny to me (which is amazing) but yes, time will tell.