I must admit that I was worried about Arsene Wenger perhaps being a bit over confident about getting a work permit for the new Arsenal defender Gabriel Paulista. We were told at the weekend that the Gunners and his Spanish La Liga club Villarreal had agreed the terms of the transfer and even Wenger said that the deal was set to be completed ‘today or tomorrow’, although we are still waiting for official confirmation from Arsenal as usual.
It would not be the first time that Wenger and Arsenal did not get the decision they expected from the football authorities and so I feared that they might stick to the letter of the law and not allow Paulista a work permit as he had no full international caps with Brazil.
And that would be a real waste if we had already signed him, but it seems that the Frenchman has made sure that will not happen as he has already obtained the work permit for the 24-year old defender and now the Brazilian has been sent to France to complete the necessary paperwork quickly..
The next question is whether Paulista will come straight into the starting line-up. With a home game against the Premier League strugglers Aston Villa up next for Arsenal, it could be the ideal chance to hand the new Gunner his debut. Would you play him on Sunday? And if so, who would you drop?