The centre-back has barely featured for the Gunners this season despite playing a prominent role last term, leading to speculation over his future as Friday's transfer deadline looms.
Arsenal transfer news - Gabriel Magalhaes
After starting in every game and missing just nine minutes of Arsenal's Premier League campaign last season, Gabriel has been surprisingly absent during the opening weeks of the new season. He started the Community Shield penalty shootout victory over Man City but has otherwise been used only from the bench in the Premier League, with even the relatively inexperienced Jakub Kiwior starting ahead of him on Saturday.
That has lead to discussions over whether Gabriel's seeming demotion within the squad has tactically hindered Arsenal after struggling to blow away Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Fulham in their opening three games, while the Mirror's John Cross reported on interest from Saudi Arabian clubs earlier this month and CBS Sports' James Benge confirmed that is still the case last weekend.
Nonetheless, Arteta has - publicly at least - suggested Gabriel still features in his plans for the season, telling reporters: "It is difficult for him, yes, but we have to focus on what is now and what is ahead and how we’re going to evolve that. There will be different relationships. Gabby will play a lot of games, I’m sure."It's difficult to tell quite what's going on behind the scenes and whether Arteta does indeed plan to bring Gabriel back into the fold soon, or if Arsenal will be tempted to cash in should they be presented with a decent offer at the last minute. After all, Al-Ittihad - one of the clubs James Benge mentioned as an admirer of Gabriel's - are willing to pay £129m for a 31-year-old Mohamed Salah, so it doesn't seem out of the question that a Saudi club could bid over the odds for the 6 foot 3 Brazilian in the last few days of the window, leaving Arteta and Edu with a decision to make.
Gabriel's per-game Premier League stats 2022/23
Ariels Won
2.6
Tackles
1.3
Interceptions
0.8
Fouls
0.7
Clearances
3.2
Blocks
0.7
Passes
63
Statistics via Whoscored
Fabrizio Romano update
Nonetheless, Fabrizio Romano has insisted to GIVEMESPORT that Arsenal have no plans to cash in on Gabriel before Friday's 11pm deadline - although it's worth remembering that the Saudi deadline is actually on the 20th of September.
Speaking exclusively to GMS, Romano said: "For Gabriel, it looks strange what's happening on a tactical and technical point of view because he's not playing, and it's not normal for a player of the level of Gabriel who was crucial for Arsenal last season. But what I'm hearing since last week when we had rumours about Al-Ettihad or Saudi clubs in general trying to approach Arsenal for Gabriel is that Arsenal have no intention to sell the player."
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