Arteta dropped him from his side at the start of the campaign (Picture: Getty)
Arsenal were prepared to let Gabriel Magalhaes leave the club last summer having targeted former Manchester City star Aymeric Laporte as his replacement.
Gabriel has enjoyed a sublime season at the heart of the Gunners’ defence alongside William Saliba.
While missing out on the Premier League title on the final day of the season, Arsenal boast the best defensive record in the league having conceded just 29 times during the 2023-24 campaign with their centre-half partnership, now one of the best in Europe, integral to that.
Since September, the Brazil international has been ever-present in the Arsenal starting XI, missing one game – the 5-0 win at home to Sheffield United in October – while playing the full 90 minutes in all but two of the 28 league games since then.
The 26-year-old was left out of the starting XI for the first three games of the season, however. In games against Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace and Fulham in August, Ben White was moved inside to partner Saliba with Thomas Partey deployed in a right-back role.
Gabriel has previous been on a run of 73 consecutive Premier League appearances before being dropped at the start of the season and while Mikel Arteta explained the change was a tactical one, The Athletic report the defender’s future was in real doubt during that period.
Arsenal were anticipating an offer from the Saudi Pro League in the opening month of the season, drawing up a list of possible replacements.
The Arsenal defender was wanted by clubs in Saudi (Picture: Getty)
Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi was on that list with Laporte, having just won the treble with Manchester City, a leading target.
City however informed Arsenal they would not prepared to do business with them, relcutant to strengthen a direct rival having previously sold them Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko the previous summer.
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Ultimately, Laporte would leave the Premier League that summer, joining Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane at Al-Nassr in a deal worth £27.5million.
In Arsenal’s first game abck following the closure of the transfer window, Gabriel was back in the side, helping them beat Manchester United 3-1.
Gabriel was named in the Brazil squad for this summer’s Copa America but the defender was forced off after 60 minutes on the final day of the season against Everton on Sunday.
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