Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes joined the Gunners in 2020 when he joined from French Ligue 1 side Lille on a long-term contract.
The Brazilian centre-back has become part of what is one of the best defensive partnerships in world football between him and French international William Saliba.
Gabriel helped the Gunners to having the best defensive record in the Premier League last season which almost carried them to a Premier League title.
He hopes to bring silverware to the Emirates this season as Arsenal aim to topple Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City’s reign in the Premier League.
After four years at the club, Gabriel has made 178 appearances in all competitions for the Gunners, scoring 17 goals and providing one assist. After seven games this season, he is Arsenal’s fourth-highest-rated player according to WhoScored.com.
Gabriel’s career before joining Arsenal
The Brazilian defender started his football career aged 13 at Avai leading to his first professional contract aged 16 at the club. He helped Avai to promotion to the Brasileiro Série A in 2017 aged 20.
Gabriel’s first big career move happened after earning a promotion as in January 2017, he was signed by French side Lille on a four-and-a-half-year contract.
The French side paid £2.5 million for Gabriel who taught himself French as soon as he moved. Before making his debut at Lille, the defender was loaned out to fellow Ligue 1 side Troyes where he made just one appearance over a spell of five-and-a-half months.
He then moved on loan to Croatian side Dynamo Zagreb where he also made just one appearance in four-and-a-half months.
After his two unsuccessful loan moves, Gabriel began to break through at Lille making his debut in February 2019 against Guingamp before he scored his first goal in a 5-1 win against PSG in April.
Gabriel became a regular in the starting XI in the 2019/20 season developing a strong centre-back partnership with former Southampton defender Jose Fonte.
Following a successful season with Lille, he made a total of 52 appearances for the club, scoring two goals before his next big move away from the French club.
A £27 million move to Arsenal
Gabriel joined Arsenal for a fee of £27 million at the age of 23 in September 2020 making his debut in the opening game of the season in a 3-0 win against Fulham.
Following a string of good performances, Gabriel won Arsenal’s Player of the Month award for both September and October and quickly cemented his place in Mikel Arteta’s starting XI.
The following season, Gabriel played in all but three of Arsenal’s games as he began to develop his reputation as a goal-scoring centre-back with five in the 2021/22 season.
The Brazilian’s excellent performances at the Emirates is one of the reasons why the Gunners have been able to challenge Manchester City to the Premier League in the past two seasons.
A goal machine…from the centre-back position
Gabriel’s reputation as a goalscoring centre-back has been cemented in recent years as he has scored 17 goals since joining Arsenal in September 2020.
So far in the 2024/25 season, Gabriel has scored crucial goals for the Gunners which is one of the reasons behind their fantastic start to the year.
His first this year came in the North London Derby, and it was the only goal of the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as the 26-year-old scored a header from a corner.
Arsenal followed the North London Derby with a game against Premier League title rivals Manchester City which finished 2-2 at the Etihad Stadium.
Gabriel scored the Gunners’ second goal which put them ahead at the end of the first half. Despite the fact that Arsenal didn’t win the game, Gabriel’s goal was full of impact.
Gabriel never grew up as a defender
It is hard to believe considering how good of a defender he is, that Gabriel never grew up playing as a centre-back. In an interview with ESPN, as cited by SportWitness, he said: “I used to like to play as a striker, I liked to score goals.
“So I grew up seeing great players like Ronaldinho, among others. I liked to play up front and I started playing defence when I went to a football school. I was already 13 years old, the coach put me at left-back, then in defence. And I was like ‘hey, here?”
Maybe his time as a striker has given him the ability to score goals which he has proved that he can do at centre-back for Arsenal. It could be a vital piece of Mikel Arteta’s plan going forward as the Gunners draw up getting the 26-year-old open on corners.
