Posted by Mikel Arteta’s search for a left-side center back is apparently over: Fabrizio Ramano is reporting Lille CB Gabriel will sign for Arsenal. He’ll be the third Brazilian, and second that’s a left-footed CB, to sign for the club since January.
L’Equipe were first to report Arsenal’s interest in the player more than a month ago, with the Gunners running a distant second to Napoli in the race to sign him. Today though, Gabriel is only a signature away from moving to North London, with both contract details and transfer fee agreed.
Pathway to Arsenal
Gabriel made his professional debut for Avai, a second division Brazilian side located in Florianópolis, on the southeast coast of the country. At age 19, after only a year playing professionally, he moved to Lille in January 2017 for €3 million.
He spent the end of the 2016-17 season at Lille on the sideline, learning French and acclimating to Europe. The extent of his first year contribution: A single eight minute substitute appearance on April 22.
The next season Lille opted to loan him out, first to since-relegated Troyes in Ligue 1 then, after a lack of field time saw him recalled in February, to Dinamo Zagreb’s reserve team. He appeared 11 times over the final three months in Croatia—just once for the first team.
But he impressed during the following preseason, which led Lille to keep him at the club. Playing time remained scarce; after a one-minute substitute appearance at the end of September, Gabriel only made the Ligue 1 bench only four times until February.
It wasn’t until an injury to captain Adama Soumaoro at the beginning of the month, that Gabriel made his first start. After that, save for two games, he started every match the rest of 2018-19, and made 24 league appearances in 2019-20 before Covid-19 prematurely ended the season.
His performances drew the attention of various clubs across Europe. Everton were confident of securing his signature in April. Napoli remained confident that their gentlemen’s agreement, arranged with Lille weeks ago during the Victor Osimhen transfer, would be honored. Manchester United made a late move to hijack the deal.
But the Arsenal knock remains different, even without Champions League football, and the Gunners beat out a host of clubs for a player who’s perfect for Mikel Arteta’s system.
Better luck next year, Napoli.
Scouting Report
Physicality
Standing 6’3″ and weighing 175 pounds, Gabriel has the size to compete in the Premier League. He won 71 percent (88 of 124) of his aerial duels last season, a mark that would rank him fifth amongst Premier League defenders at top-six sides, and 20th overall.
That’s not to say he’s Virgil van Dijk; he can be beaten in the air. In Lille’s Champions League tie vs. Ajax last year, he was outjumped by the 5’9″ Quincy Promes for Ajax’s first goal. The entire Twitter thread is worth a watch, if for no other reason than to temper expectations.
English football is obviously a different beast to Ligue 1—there aren’t many Adama Traoré’s playing in France. But if he can maintain that 71 percent success rate in the Premier League, he’ll be able to hold his own.
Defending
A central defender needs to be able to defend, and Gabriel certainly can. He ranked outside the top 150 in Ligue 1 for both tackles and interceptions, but crucially, was 20th amongst defenders in successful tackle percentage (70.5 percent). His 1.9 tackles (overall) and 1.34 tackles (won) per-90 care better than Thiago Silva (1.89 and 1.2, respectively).
The eye test is no different. Here’s a full-match highlight of him vs. Chelsea in the Champions League from last October. I like full-match compilations because they give you a sense of the player’s overall game, rather than just their highlights. You’ll see a handful of wayward passes in this one, but not a single instance of him being beaten 1v1.
Obviously that doesn’t mean he’s a TOP top defender yet; there’s room for improvement in both recognition and decisiveness. But at just 22, he’s only scratching the surface of his ability. And after the miracle Arteta worked with Shkodran Mustafi, watching Gabriel’s development over the next several seasons should be fun.
Technical
The reason why Arsenal paid €24 million for Gabriel isn’t because he can defend. Sokratis can defend; Sead Kolasinac can defend. Arsenal made Gabriel a priority because of what he can do on the ball.
At 84.3 percent, Gabriel’s passing has room for improvement, but more than meets the base level to be considered a ball-playing CB. David Luiz, for example, completed 86.5 percent.
And with 37 percent of Gabriel’s passes longer than 25 yards, his completion percentage isn’t held up by an artificial number of easy ones.
He’s not afraid to advance the ball either, making 4.31 progressive passes per game. Amongst Premier League players, his 2019-20 bested both Virgil Van Dijk (4.11) and Harry Maguire (2.81) in the category.
On the ball, he made just 0.26 miscontrols, and was dispossessed only 0.34 times per 90 minutes. And errors leading to goals? Arsenal fans can breathe a sigh of relief here: Zero.
Final Verdict
Even including Champions League finalist PSG, Premier League teams are worth about three times that of their Ligue 1 counterparts. And with only 40 games from which to scout, there’s no doubt Gabriel’s signing represents a risk for Arsenal.
But for a club trying to outsmart the market, Gabriel’s age and player profile tick all the boxes. The bottom line: Gabriel signing for Arsenal, especially for just €30 million, is a steal and should allow the Gunners to direct some of their scarce transfer resources elsewhere.
Alongside William Saliba, Arsenal will hope that Gabriel will form half of the their central defensive pairing for the foreseeable future.