Thread: Gabriel Magalhaes £27 million move to Arsenal

Gabriel Magalhaes has move to Arsenal in a £27 million deal. He has had a crazy good breakout season and has impressed a lot. Let’s take a look at what all the hype is about and see if he is worth the money.

In this thread I will talk about:
- Attributes that Gabriel possesses in his game
- Attributes that Gabriel needs to improve on in his game
- How Gabriel will fit at Arsenal and how he improves them
- My honest opinion about the signing

Attributes that Gabriel possesses in his game:

Let’s start off with Gabriel great ability in the air. He is a solid player in the air. He wins about 71% of his aerial duels. Higher than the likes of De ligt, Ramos, T Silva. It’s fair to say that Gabriel is very good in the air.

As you can see from this graph, Gabriel is up there when it comes to his aerial ability. Even at his young age he is performing at very high rate. I doubt we will be seeing Arsenal conceding a lot of goals in the air with both Saliba and Gabriel in their defence.

Gabriel is a very athletic CB. I’m sure you can tell from his build. He is very explosive. Will give fast attackers in the PL a good race. Not only is he super fast for a CB but he is very strong. He uses his body a lot and very well to block players off the ball. Here’s a video.

Gabriel is a good ball playing CB. He can definitely improve in some areas but he’s superb and playing balls out wing to the fullbacks and wingers. When he plays it centrally it doesn’t work as well. That’s why he has a low long ball percentage which is 72.3%. See below.

He is good at ball progression as well for his age. As shown in the graph below. This what Arsenal need as they will be playing a high line and building from the back. He isn’t shy on the ball at all. He will soon be a complete ball playing CB.

Gabriel is a very good reader of the game. He stops passing lanes very well in cutback situation. His long legs help of course but he positions himself well for those and stops any kind of balls coming in to the box. This is shown here. One of his strengths in fact.

Attributes that Gabriel needs to improve on in his game:

One thing Gabriel can improve on is that he doesn’t make enough line breaking passes in the middle when the pass in the middle is a clear option. It makes him too predictable as he’s always going with the wide option.

He can also improve his marking in the box. There’s often a free man when he’s in no man’s land. His awareness needs some work as well. Usually he doesn’t look behind him enough to tell where players are. It’s an easy fix that makes a big difference.

It’s a case where he is ball watching too much and not look at the threat which are the players he is marking.

How Gabriel will fit at Arsenal and how he improves them:

I expect Gabriel to be a left sided CB for obvious reasons. This is a defence that will be so so solid in 2-3 years. Maybe not in the first season but god does it have potential.

My honest opinion about the signing:

For me this is a VERY VERY good signing. I was very surprised that Arsenal have got him for cheap with little clubs after him. If you’ve followed me for a while then you’d know I’m a massive massive Gabriel fan.

I think the signing of Saliba is a massive complement to him as well. Having a left sided CB that is left footed is such a key addition as well. He has that VVD feel of him in a way. Not saying he’s anywhere near that level but style wise.

The partnership of Gabriel and Saliba will be top 2-3 in the world at some point for me. Arsenal have bought really well in this department. I expect the first year to be slow though so don’t expect too much straight away but that’s how I see it.

Luiz will play a big part in their growth as a pair as well I feel. It’s best Arsenal keep him as backup (starter for the start of the season) and he can also add so much to their game just by being there. Fantastic signing!

Before I end the thread I want to give a massive shoutout to @ExpectedChelsea for giving me these graphs. Please do give him a follow because he’s a top stat based account and one of my favourite accounts on this plate form.

End of thread!

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