Both. He's got more upside than any of our CBs bar Saliba who's never even played for us.

This is an exciting signing any way you slice it. Half the time people are whinging about not getting them early enough before their value skyrockets out of our reach, and the other half is this snooty "wait-and-see" attitude when we do make those moves, moaning about how many slide tackles are in the YouTube comps.

Give us a chance Coombs its not even official yet and we aren't a load of twitter teens.

Gazza M wrote:

Little write up froma gooner based in lille who's seen him play live. This guy tweeted that arsenal should go for him in may last year

I’ve seen quite a few Arsenal fans asking for us to sign Tyrone Mings from Villa: Gabriel is actually quite similar to him in terms of playing style, but better on the ball.

I do like the sound of this. I think that's a player type we've been missing. No one around to boss it physically since Kos left.

I like that the main reason we looked at him appears to be the fact that he's left-footed. Little details, very important.

If he’s got L’Equipe’s endorsement, that’s great in my books. Can’t ask for much more really. I’m not a scout, so I’m hoping Cagigao and co did their jobs before they left.

Tbh I don't think either of them will stick around if we don't get CL / play them regularly. Bar injuries I can see Saliba going to Madrid pretty soon.

That’s the spirit!

I think they’re both on 5 year contracts. If other teams come calling, we have a lot of power.
Long deals with Saliba, Gabriel, Tierney, Saka can only be good for building the asset base. If we don’t win, we can sell them each for £50m+ down the line. We need more players like this. Good work by Raul, Edu, Jonkers et al here.

as long as they aren't going to the biggest clubs on a free transfer i'm good with them leaving. it would mean their time here was successful on at least an individual level. if our central defenders are getting that kind of interest then we're probably a very good defensive team.

We can’t really do more than what we have done.

Signed a ultra promising Right center back a year early, something we never did previously.

Signed a left center back who dominated this season and made Ligue 1 team of the season.

Signed a quality LB last season.

Apart from RB, what more can we do?

All of them are at a great age as well. Hopefully they can learn and grow together, and execute over time what the manager wants from them.

Now we need to sort out the midfield, as a lot of blame has gone to our defence over the years, but they have had zero protection. That becomes the priority now.

ohboy!!! wrote:

We can’t really do more than what we have done.

Signed a ultra promising Right center back a year early, something we never did previously.

Signed a left center back who dominated this season and made Ligue 1 team of the season.

Signed a quality LB last season.

Apart from RB, what more can we do?

All of them are at a great age as well. Hopefully they can learn and grow together, and execute over time what the manager wants from them.

Now we need to sort out the midfield, as a lot of blame has gone to our defence over the years, but they have had zero protection. That becomes the priority now.

Well said, but if we don't sign Partey and another number 10 it would be going to waste again

Think Partey will get done eventually if he wants to come here. Don't think we'll get another midfielder if Ceballos stays though, unfortunately.

Also, Gabriel is possibly a great talent, but I think we need to brace ourselves for a Kos-like development curve. Hopefully the fans won't get on his back if he takes time to adapt,and maybe we should only play one of these new guys at the same time.

I will kill for someone if its a Kos-like development. Kos was brilliant from his very first appearance at Anfield.

Anyway, it's funny but I always say Gabriel is like a stronger Koscielny. Very similar styles

Kos had a tough first 3 months. Lots of bad decisions tracking players, silly fouls and cards. And then he settled and all was gravy

I disagree that Kos was brilliant from his first appearance. He was decent and you could see that the potential was there, but he made many mistakes (to be fair he didn't ever totally get rid of that, but they got fewer with experience). In fact, I think only absolute peak Kos can be described as brilliant.

Clrnc wrote:

I will kill for someone if its a Kos-like development. Kos was brilliant from his very first appearance at Anfield.

Kos was one of my favourite players but that's not true, his first season was a mixed bag.

He didn't have an easy job to be fair, had to carry Squillaci on his back.

Mirth wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

I will kill for someone if its a Kos-like development. Kos was brilliant from his very first appearance at Anfield.

Kos was one of my favourite players but that's not true, his first season was a mixed bag.

Maybe my memory is failing me, but I remember that match at Anfield I was so impressed with him as a new signing.

Wasn't he sent off for handball in that game?

Claudius wrote:

Kos had a tough first 3 months. Lots of bad decisions tracking players, silly fouls and cards. And then he settled and all was gravy

I remember Keown talking about his lack of leg strength too and that it had to be built up when he arrived.

I do think Kos's debut season was better than he was being given credit for at the time. There was a lot of turmoil in that defence. Vermaelen was injured for the whole year, Squillaci and Djourou were just downright rotten footballers, and Almunia and Fabianski were making a mess of the goalkeeping job to the point where a 20 year old Szczesny had to be thrown in. We even had to bring back a 40 year old Lehmann briefly.

Kos and Sagna did a massive lifting job, which I think has to be factored in when people talk about inconsistencies. Kos seemed a bit overwhelmed at times but he made a better fist of it than anyone had a right to expect. It was plain to see he was going to turn out a brilliant signing.

Gabriel has every chance of being much better than Kos in his first season. He has a better pedigree and has progressed rapidly at a younger age. His physical attributes alone give him a better chance than a journeyman like Koscielny, who was a real mixed bag in the PL for his couple of seasons. It was only with increased fitness and experience that he became any good.

It's only because it sticks it to the club that anyone would now claim we were too hard on him. He was mostly a disaster at first, getting sent off and giving away penalties, making massive mistakes, and generally playing like a relatively inexperienced, middling player from the lower reaches of Ligue 1/2. I'm not saying I didn't grow to love Kos, but Gabriel is a top Brazilian talent tipped for greatness. There couldn't be any two players less comparable, really.

Coombs wrote:

It's only because it sticks it to the club that anyone would now claim we were too hard on him.

Explain that one to me. How does saying people were harsh on Koscielny in his first season "stick it to the club"? That makes absolutely no sense.

Because Kos left in a disgraceful manner and looking back on his time with us with rose-tinted glasses is just another way of reframing everything about contemporary Arsenal in the negative. It's quite tiresome.

That's quite the conspiracy theory. I think nearly everyone agrees that Kos did enough during his time at Arsenal to be one of the first names on the list whenever they decide to add more players to the mural, so why would anyone bother hyping up his debut season to make it reflect better on him? Such a weird idea. No one even mentioned the club until you decided that two and two equals nine.

I certainly don't think most Arsenal fans want Kos anywhere near that mural, unless you meant before he left in the way he did.

Man Ornstein is just feeding on scraps now.

Quincy: Yes, hence "did enough to get on there".

Wow that tweet Totally showed how far off he is right now. Sad to see

Very positive passing stats by the way

Kos was ultimately a dud. Gave good years of service but got his arse handed to him by decent players too often.

Clrnc wrote:

Very positive passing stats by the way

Thanks for the chart. Helps explain why Kabak is hot property cos he’s strong defensively as well. Very reassuring. If you can’t have Upamecano, have the next best thing at 33% off.

Captain wrote:

Kos was ultimately a dud. Gave good years of service but got his arse handed to him by decent players too often.

The Wenger was strong in him

Kos was arguably our best CB since Campbell (who was the best since Adams).

The only absloutely consistent defender past 2005 we've had is Sagna.

Man was a machine. He seems to have fallen off the radar but he was a rolls royce of a fullback.

His off days you can count them on 2 hands for the 7 years he was here.

More than half his time here was littered with crap like Almunia, Squillaci, Silvestre, etc.

I think we should have kept toure and get rid off gallas when they had that rift.

In the couple of years before the World Cup he missed, Koscielny was one of the very best defenders in the league. He was just stuck in our circus.

Koscielny had periods where he was very good but he was never far from a mistake.

Doesn't come close to the best defenders like Rio, Vidic, Sol, Carvalho, Adams, Stam, King etc.

That said a 'good' not 'great' centre back who we might have won the league with had we had a better partner for him because peak mert was decent but not even in the 'good' category.

Claudius wrote:

Clrnc wrote:

Very positive passing stats by the way

Thanks for the chart. Helps explain why Kabak is hot property cos he’s strong defensively as well. Very reassuring. If you can’t have Upamecano, have the next best thing at 33% off.

I think Upamecano wouldn't have been sold for less than 55m-60m euros this summer or last summer.

He's available for 45m euros with his new contract (In the same way Werner signed one with a clause) but you can bet we'd be gazumped by City, PSG etc.

He's even younger than Gabriel but his rise has been rapid.