Kel Varnsen wrote:
Mirth wrote:
Could say that about any new signing from abroad
Not really. Class players succeed almost always everywhere. Decent players sometimes flop and sometimes succeed.
And it's still early days for Gabriel - both in his time at Arsenal and in his career. He's younger than Vidic when he joined United or Thiago Silva when he joined Milan. Or indeed Koscielny. so it's too early to call him 'top class' or just another 'decent' player. You need to give them that chance. If he's still not pushed on by the end of next season, we need to cut him loose and find someone else. I also think our defensive unit will be stronger for having someone who has been at the club for six months to challenge Per and then replace him rather than bring in new face and change things around in a more sudden manner.
From my perspective, it makes a lot more sense to get a player who looks like he's on the cusp of becoming top quality than wait till he's become well known (like Otamendi) and then have to compete with clubs across Europe for him.
I get that there's an urgency for this team to win the league, but I'm not saying that Gabriel is just here because he has 'potential' either, Villarreal went on an unbeaten run of 16 games in the first half of last season and he was a key part of that - so he's done something. Had we not signed him then, he would have likely continued his form and several clubs would be in for him by now.
We acted quickly and I honestly think the only reason he's not featured much is because Per-Koscielny are more established and also because he's been given time to settle. I also think he's been sharp in the few games that he has played for us - particularly Everton and Newcastle away - but obviously that's a very small sample size.
