Arsene Wenger has made it clear all summer that he needs to cut down his ‘heavy’ squad with quite a few big names obviously surplus to requirements. To be honest I didn’t expect Gabriel Paulista to be the first out the door as we seem to be short of defenders at the moment, but with Arsene Wenger having experimented with the Brazilian in various positions he has now decided to cash in by sending him back to La Liga.
Gabriel arrived in Valencia airport on Thursday and the Valencia are expected to announce the deal ahead of their season opening game against Las Palmas on Saturday. He has to have his medical first before confirmation but he is expected to sign a three-year deal after the two clubs agreed a fee of around £10m.
The Official Valencia Twitter account announced his arrival last night……
Gabriel is more than happy to return to work under his former manager Marcelino, who managed the Brazilian at Villarreal before he joined Arsenal in 2015. “I am very happy, I have spoken to Marcelino several times and I understand how he works,” Gabriel said, as quoted by Marca.
So we have one unexpected exit, and there are now more hopefully concluding soon, and Wenger can start buying again…..
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