Thread on Arsenal’s possibly new centre back Gabriel Magalhães – RT’s appreciated

Gabriel made his debut for Brazilian side Avaí aged 19 – it didn’t take long for him to be a starter for them. In the same year he got called up to Brazil’s U20 side

In the start of the 2017 season Brazilian giants Palmeiras and Flamengo made offers for him but he opted to join LOSC Lille because of Marcelo Bielsa. He cost the French club 3m euros

His start at LOSC wasn’t what he dreamed of, played few games at Lille B then was sent on loan to french side Troyes and then to Dinamo Zagreb, where he also played for their u23s side.

It all changed for Gabriel when Losc was suffering with loads of injuries and manager Christophe Galtier opted to start him against Guingamp, in February of 2019.
Since then, he has been a starter for Lille, and a key player for them

In the summer of 2019 LOSC rejected a 20m euros offer from Juventus for Gabriel. Magalhaes has told in an interview to L’Equipe this year that his dream was to play in the Premier League or in the Serie A – as that would help him reach the Brazilian national team

Gabriel attributtes: He’s great one on one. He’s very good physically, agile, and very fast. Thus, he usually does very well in the aerial game, (he’s 6ft 3)

Gabriel has averaged 5.1 aerial duels per 90 this season. Of those duels, the 22-year-old has won 3.4 per 90.
For comparison, Van Dijk and Maguire have averaged 4.9 and 4.6 aerial duels per match respectively, although with only a marginally better success rate

Gabriel’s hardly dribbled past or loses in speed to an attacker

Despite what many seem to think, Gabriel is not a ball playing centre back, even though he has improved a lot this season with the ball at his feet as Lille’s way of playing is from the back

Gabriel tries a lot of long balls, no other CB in L1 has completed as many final third entry passes as him while he ranks eighth across the entire league. For comparison, only van Dijk, Maguire, Alderweireld & Dunk have completed more final third entry passes from CB’s in the PL.

Of course Gabriel still has a lot to improve, easy to forget he has just turned 23. His positioning is one thing he has to do better, especiallly playing in the Premier League.

Gabriel is very reliant on using his left foot, with only around 5% of his successful passes coming with his right.

A concern might be the fact that this is the first time he has made more than 15 appearances in one season since arriving in Europe.

Few another stats from Gabriel this season

Gabriel Magalhães full stats in the Ligue 1 this season