Gabriel Magalhaes was announced as an Arsenal player today, in a video-call including himself and fellow Brazilians Willian and David Luiz, but he just may need time to settle given his lack of English.
The latter pair were tasked with the chore of having to act as if the chatter wasn’t staged, before calling Gabriel to ‘ask’ if he was actually joining the club, to by chance (not) find him wearing the new Arsenal shirt.
This transfer was one of the worst kept secrets in recent history, as well as his announcement very much the expectation when an unnamed ‘guest’ was going to join his fellow countrymen in a video chat today, which can be seen below.
While there is little doubt over Gabriel’s ability to be a hit in the heart of our defence, the problem could well come from the former Lille star’s inability to speak English as of yet, with him struggling to say the simplest of things when asked in the call.
The 22 year-old will of course need to pick up the lingo quickly, although he will be aided by having fellow speakers Luiz, Willian, Martinelli, Nicolas Pepe, Cedric Soares and Director of Football Edu at the club, while Pablo Mari had a spell in Brazil with Flamengo previously and may also have an understanding of Portuguese.
Will Gabriel need to time to learn the language before he can have a big impact on the first-team squad?
Patrick
I don’t know how similar Portuguese and Spanish are, but they could be close. All his defensive partners but Tierney and AMN would be able to communicate with him effectively. I believe he speaks French so Granit, Auba, Laca, . I know he doesnt speak English but he won’t struggle that much.
He will gain slowly but I hope it will not affect playing football. If he speaks French, it will be possible because he will be surrounded with Aubameyang Lacazete and many of players.
I’m very happy to be with him in our squad
He’ll have other Brazilians to help him settle in. That’s a huge boost. Did Martinelli know some English before coming? From his social media it seems like he was always pretty comfortable using English. I expect him to play in a back 3 next to Luiz either way so not too worried.
Also, the bellerin rumors are really picking up. Seems he is in talks with PSG. That’s a big move, and should fund a transfer for one of our midfield targets. Wonder is this makes AMN a starter now. Hmmm, things getting interesting!