Arsenal have been very closely linked with the Lille centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes for the last two months, and it has been reported that the Gunners have now had an offer accepted by the French side.
It certainly looks like we are going to find out for certain very shortly whether he will be following his old team-mate Nico Pepe to Arsenal or if he will choose to go to Napoli, who have widely been cited as also having an interest.
The Lille owner Gerard Lopez has now confirmed that Magalhaes is weighing up his options and expects a decision in the next week or so. Lopez told the BBC: “Gabriel is young, extremely powerful, currently right now probably one of the two most dominant central defenders in the French league,”
“The way we work is very simple. We explain to him and his environment, his agent, what we are looking for, and once we get those offers the choice is his, like we did with Nico [Pepe] and Victor [Oshimen].
“We are there now, so we told him: ‘Eventually you have to make a decision but we’re not pressing you.’ I think he will make it this week, or next week at the latest. He is leaving, we’ve given the OK for that.
“There’s a lot of competition. He’s a young player so he’s got to make sure he makes the right decision. We help him out a little bit so we tell him: ‘We think this might be the right manager or club for you.’
“He’s got so much talent, he will succeed wherever he goes.”
Of course I think the odds are in Arsenal’s favour, considering that he will already know Pepe from his time at Lille, as well as knowing that the Gunners have his fellow Brazilians Davis Luiz, Gabriel Martinelli and now Willian to help him settle in London.
It must also be very helpful that it is our very own Brazilian, Edu, who is conducting the negotiations to bring him to the Emirates. Surely all those reasons are likely to tip him in our favour as well as the chance to live in one of the most exciting cities in the world, with the very best League in Europe at least.
I have a feeling that next week we will be welcoming our 4th Brazilian to The Arsenal, don’t you?
Sign him. Sign partey. Extend auba. We will have a title contending team. What a different squad. Power, pace, size combined with skill and the vision of a manager who wants to play.
Completely agree (although my evaluation is based solely on YouTube). Gabriel, Partey, Willian + Auba extension would represent an excellent Covid window.
A lot more optimistic now that Manure have pulled out.He does have his old team mate Osimhen at Napoli.But that about it.Apparently good mates with Pepe? As you say with Edu leading negotiations a plus surely.More pissed off with the big mouth Ghana manager advising Partey to stay put.Prob a closet Manure fan hating us to get Partey.Should keep his snout out of it.Get Aouar as well & we’re set to go places.
He’s got a point though. Atlético have been a consistent strong force in Spanish and European football for years while Arsenal has been in decline.
No idea why he apparently wants to come but delighted at the prospect.
Let us hope our decline is soon behind us. I doubt we will concede so many draws next season, and fully expect us to win more games at the Emirates than the last. If we can get Gabriel, and Partey I don’t see why we can’t challenge for top 4. That should be the realistic target. Challenging for the league is likely two to three seasons away providing the team continues to improve.
I personally will not sign any player from Lille again after the crazy fees we paid for an average overrated Pepe.
Lille is a selling club, they will package half baked one-season-wonder player for clubs for exorbitant fees.
This is crazy. Besides, our focus should be getting a good DM and selling some dead woods instead of buying another average player from Lille .
We cant blame lille and even for that if we have any other good player from them we can still go for it. The situation with pepe is unfortunate everyone knew something is wrong bc that fee is just way too much. We should ask saniheli who presided over the deal. It shows something was wrong then and thank God the board as corrected it by moving saniheli forward. Our downward slope started the day Emery was hired and even mr wenger opinion was disregarded, he went ahead to sell 16 players he inherited from his predecessor with 18months a senseless act and said and I quote” it’s the board decision not to play ozil” that statement shows hes not in control. So kudos to the decision made to move mr saniheli forward.
if only they listen. That Aouar guy is a fantastic footballer.
He’s overpriced too. And wasn’t even Lyon’s best midfielder yesterday. We need a midfielder that can score goal I think. If we are keeping Ceballos I’d rather not go for Aouar.
Not their best player? He has been cited as being the best player on the pitch – controlling the midfield – our main problem has been transitioning from defence to attack – he is excellent in that
Marcelo, Deynar, Caqueret, Cornet were all better. Aouar sparked when needed but was not in the thick of it for the majority of the game. People just see what they want to because he’s rated at 60mill. And i’m not going to judge him on one game, but he was simply not their best player.
I think you could be right in which case what happens to Mari who is also a left footed CB but much slower than Gabriel.Presumably he would be used as back up like Soares?
It must also mean there will be lots of defenders leaving I would think….
I think he can play mari on the left Gavriel centrally and saliba on the right of a 3man defence. And if you watch lille games once they attack thays how they play. If we sign him he will come good and we wont have problems with mari that I know who is also a good defender too.
Sean M, maybe it’s because it’s The Arsenal?
Mrcool, forget the price we paid for Pepe (this is being looked at), he will be a very good player under the guidance of MA… as will Gabriel.
I’m with you ken; Gabriel is value in the market and the relation ship with Pepe, as well as Edu and the other Brazilian footballers at Arsenal. With Sabila and Mari, Gabriel will strengthen Arsenal’s CB deficiency.
Pepe will improve on his decent first season.
After his performance in the Champions League, Aouar will be attracting many clubs, pricing Arsenal out. For a CAM Arsenal should either straight buy Ceballos from Real Madrid or look for another option like Dominick Szoboszlai (Salzburg). Again Arsenal has upset RM by only offering to pay half Ceballos’ wages and no loan fee!
Thomas Partey is the critical transfer this window and Arsenal needs to stop mucking about and pay the €50 million buy out. He is the physically imposing box to box midfielder Arsenal has been missing since Viera.
A swap of Torreira for Diawara at Roma or sell Torreira and buy Marc Roca will sort the DM position out.
That would be a great transfer window for Arteta to build on!
yes birds of the same feather flocks together… come and join fellow Brazilians
sign gab, partey coutinho and are will be a force to reckon with.
I would love to see Gabriel at Arsenal. The odds are in our favor
Sokratis, Mustafi and Mavropanos should be sold.
Saliba, Gabriel, Mari, Luiz, Chambers, Holding. This six CB can compete for the title.
It will really be an exciting Covid window if we get Gabriel, Partey, Aurar.
Line up will be like this –
Aubameyang,
Willian, Aurar, Pepe,
Xhaka, Partey,
Tierney, Gabriel, Saliba, Bellerin.
Leno.
Will rather play the beast in post called Martinez instead of Leno
Will play AMN instead of Bellerin
I agree with you Howard I would rather play Martinez than Leno they are both good GK’s but I think Martinez has the edge on Leno for on several fronts
Bench
Martinez
Mari
Chambers
CEBALLOS
Cotinho
Martinelli
Saka
Lacazat
DIAWARA.
THIS would afford all the young guys chance to develop into world class players without carrying team(saka, Martinelli. Nelson, Niles, Willock)
Hope we can get this guy. Thing that worries me is CM. Not convinced we will get Partey but we do need top quality there. At the end of the season we looked a bit weak if either Xhaka or Ceballos were missing – can’t have a situation like that next season or it will be more of the same. I think we need at least 2 CMs who can play that position in MA’s system.
Ball retention, intelligent defence and incisive passing ability – not the easiest profile to find! The closest we have is Guendouzi and looks like he’s definitely off.
i agree under Arteta we are going places, but this Partey signing for us rubbish is for the fairies… and we must look else where before its to late. EVERY year we are looking and trying to get one specific player and every year we fail.Leave it to late to find someone as good and panic buy someone instead. PARTEY is out of our price range and with no carrot ie champions league football to wave under his nose its just stupid to think we have a chance of getting him.I see Partey staying put, as he has everything he needs at Atelico Champions football year in year out and a manage that believes in him and he knows the club so well.This i am leaving is simply to try and get a better contract than the one offered to him…..
I think they are already working on the alternatives incase it didnt work out, Danillo, Diawara and some other guys have been mentioned . We need someone who will fit into the arsenal system very well.we expected big thing from torreira but look at what we got a good player who doesnt fit in to arsenal system of play or maybe premiership is too demanding for him . He hardly play a game without a card and he doesnt cover well for the back 3 . On the counter he always leave them exposed.
PARTEY will not be signing so going for Diawara would make total sense and a better option, as we can simply exchange Torriera for him. Gabriel and saliba is a pairing made in heaven and would see us far better at the back. Diawara is a defensive midfielder that loves to protect the back four and doesnt leave his position going forward. We need ceballos to come back or replace him with someone in the same mould… Maybe find someone within like Smith -Rowe to be the play maker instead if we cannot sign Ceballos back…. just a thought … As Smith-Rowe deserves a run in the team to show what he has learned whilst be out on loan !! and think of this he wont cost us anything…..
I think Smith-Rowe needs to be patiently integrated as we do saka . He cant cope with that intensity for now tho he will be used to it but it has to be slowly. I believe it’s high time we start making things work at arsenal by signing top top players for the team at least we need a solid first 11 in which the younger boys can learn from. I will be gutted if mantland miles and lacazzete were to be sold. We need to look at their contribution during artetas reign to see what and how well they have played.
Commentators are saying saliba will be our van dijk but we dont need another van dijk we need our koulibally and sago Ramos leaders from the back and we can get that from the these guys Gabriel and saliba. We all noticed that van dijk was really exposed towards the end of the season and we will see more in the next season but we need rocks at the back like these 2 guys who are not afraid to tackle and can play very well with the ball as MA will do. If we can get it right then we can compete for the title.
I’d be surprised if this transfer is done by end of the month. I still think Arsenal will want to sell players before purchasing another.
Also, how many ppl have seen this guy play? If our scouting is so poor and outdated, why are we trusting them with this link??? Remind me the last time we bought a top CB?
Please get him for us
I’d love Gabriel to come and indeed he MAY, but none of Pats overhyped so called reasons why he will choose us over Napoloi will apply, save only the lure of London. THAT is a real factor with many players but wages, chance of silverware and general lifestyle are all that matter to most players.
Having mates already at one club or another is of no import to almost any player. Players soon make new friends among the team wherever they play and fans in general pay far too much attention to something that is hardly ever a key factor in deciding where they go.
I am still to be convinced that we are following the right process to improve overall team defense. And if we are not careful, this 35M signing could very well end up on our scrap-heap of not-entirely useful CB’s.
The current trend in the game is to sign ball-playing CB’s to facilitate playing out from the back. If this our intention, then players in the mold of Upamecano should be our preferred choice.
To me, Gabriel does not fit the bill – he lacks agility, he is slow and turns like a jumbo jet. And why should we sign another left-footed defender when we have already signed Mari and Tierney – sounds like another Raul Sanllehi’s decision to me. I would elect for strengthening my defensive midfield first before signing a new CB.