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6 months ago
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Virgil van Dijk, Rúben Dias, Cristian Romero, Manuel Akanji, Raphaël Varane… No, the best central defender in the Premier League is playing well at Arsenal this season. But the mission to decide between William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães should give some gray hairs to its actors, as the success of the Frenchman is linked to that of the Brazilian, and vice versa. Recently, the second had also gritted his teeth when he was reminded of his partner’s injury while Arsenal was still engaged in the title race last year, proof of the complicity between the two players: “Don’t remind me of that again, please.”, he laughed. Landed from LOSC for 25 million euros in 2020, which made it the 5th biggest sale for the northern club at the time, Gabriel was able to shatter doubts about him.
If his first season in England was uneven in terms of performance, the Brazilian was able to rectify the situation to today become one of the best central defenders in the Premier League. It must also be said that Arsenal’s recruitment unit, under the leadership of its sporting director Edú Gaspar, had had flair in seeking out the native of São Paulo, seen as a promising but inconsistent defender in Lille. This season, the Auriverde international (6 caps) has been able to erase his dissipations and, with William Saliba, embodies the hermeticism of the Gunners, the best defense in the Premier League (24 goals conceded). Moreover, it is not for nothing that the two friends are the two players most used by Mikel Arteta this season (3,422 minutes for Saliba, 3,282 for Gabriel).
No defender has scored more than him in the Premier League since his arrival
Sol Campbell, Gunners legend and member of the 2004 Invincibles, was, by his own admission, amazed by the level of performance of his two cadets recently: “if they form the best Arsenal hinge since the Invincibles? Yes, with no disrespect to all the defenders who have passed through Arsenal.he conceded in December in comments reported by The Sun. Impactful in duels like few defenders in the Premier League, excellent rebounder, the 26-year-old defender is also a formidable weapon from set pieces. This season again, he has scored 4 times in the Premier League, making him the top scoring defender in the championship.
Moreover, with 14 goals since his arrival in 2020, no defender has scored more than him over this same period. “A lot of things have changed in his life. His importance in the team has increased, he has worked on his mentality and he can decide what he wants to be because he has enormous potential. By staying here this winter, he made the right choice”, Arteta confided at the beginning of February about his player, who had just been elected Gunners of the month. Less prone to swings in concentration this season, which has long been his main concern, Gabriel has also passed the milestone of 150 appearances in the Arsenal jersey in recent weeks. A symbolic milestone which already says a lot about the confidence his club has in him, and which should continue to gain momentum.
