Quincy Abeyie wrote:
Tambourine Man wrote:

Fingers cross this guy works out. He's a 50:50, make not mistake about that but we have to take a chance. We are not able to blow £50/60/70m on a sure thing so we have to make gambles like this and hope they pay off.

History tells us that for every signing like this that we make, one in three or four make it so not getting my hopes up in terms of what he is going to deliver. But as a fan it is always more fun anticipating what a new season will bring with fresh faces who have not disappointed us yet than it is with existing players who have already let us down. The not knowing generates an optimism.

A 50/50 with a 25-33% chance of making it, eh?

Had a feeling someone would call me on that but the gist is, you never know with signings of this profile. 

Gunner89 wrote:

Arsenal have moved ahead in the race to sign Lille defender Gabriel after a meeting at the start of the week when the Brazilian found the North London club's reps to be particularly convincing, but Manchester United haven't given up yet, per La Voix du Nord. More follows.

http://dailycannon.com/2020/08/gabriel-chooses-to-join-arsenal-over-manchester-united-in-e30m-deal/
[size=small][font=Trebuchet, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif]According to [/font][font=Trebuchet, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif]La Voix des Sports[/font][font=Trebuchet, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif], the 22-year-old left-footer has chosen to join up with his former Lille teammate, Nicolas Pepe, at Arsenal despite only signing a contract extension in February that tied him to Lille until 2023.[/font][/size]

Great stuff. Not sure all the equivocating is warranted, totally fine to be excited. He may take a season, but we have the fallback players to support him in Mari and Luiz. This is what squad building should feel like.

I forgot Mari exists. I don't think he's going to factor much for us. I hope he doesn't too, I'm not sold on him.

Fabrizio Romano @FabrizioRomano ·

1h Gabriel Magalhães: Arsenal are in the race and have started talks with Lille. Napoli still interested but not moving yet because it’ll depend by Koulibaly future. Manchester United just had contacts with his agents but no talks with Lille atm. Game on. #AFC #MUFC #Napoli

 
Romano chimes in

Seems like Arsenal is reading our wishlists. when I wishlisted him there were absolutely no links to him 😉

Who would have thought we will move in for one of the hottest young defender in Europe

Arsenal fans online are crazy, Gabriel went on live on some app, and they flooded him with messages   😆  😆
Also, Napoli must hate us  😆

Edu came through with the Brazilian Rolodex.

naz wrote:

I forgot Mari exists. I don't think he's going to factor much for us. I hope he doesn't too, I'm not sold on him.

Did we buy mari ? Thought we got him in on loan

Gabriel, Mari, Saliba, Luiz, Sokratis, Mavropanos, Kolasinac, Mustafi, Holding, Chambers

  • Tierney

We really are run like a candy shop. What on earth do you call that?

A good oppotunirty to get rid of some garbage.

Watts is more reserved, so yeah, its done.

Well I always assume guys like Charles Watts have no real source to break storys, they say what the club tells them to say. So if he heard from the club that we are in the hunt I think it means it's much more advance from that, otherwise they would said it's not true at all.

HomeSteak wrote:

Well I always assume guys like Charles Watts have no real source to break storys, they say what the club tells them to say. So if he heard from the club that we are in the hunt I think it means it's much more advance from that, otherwise they would said it's not true at all.

So he’s a poormans Orenstein?

HomeSteak wrote:

Well I always assume guys like Charles Watts have no real source to break storys, they say what the club tells them to say. So if he heard from the club that we are in the hunt I think it means it's much more advance from that, otherwise they would said it's not true at all.

Ah, right. 

Sicario wrote:
HomeSteak wrote:

Well I always assume guys like Charles Watts have no real source to break storys, they say what the club tells them to say. So if he heard from the club that we are in the hunt I think it means it's much more advance from that, otherwise they would said it's not true at all.

So he’s a poormans Orenstein?

I'd rather call Ornstein the poor man's Watts. The latter is more reliable. 

Watts replaced wheatley at goal, and i feel wheatley had better sources. Watts has never broken anything of import that i can remember

Fuck, I was thinking of Wheatley. 😆 Where's he gone off to?

He manages social media for guys like Sokratis I think.

Had seen a report we have made an offer and were in advanced negotiations with player and club - more so than any other club.

Wonder how we’ll structure the deal if we complete his signing.

We still owe Lille loads for Pepe

Put him on the tab I guess

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Wonder how we’ll structure the deal if we complete his signing.

We still owe Lille loads for Pepe

Put him on the tab I guess

We desperately need some outgoings.

Surprising there are not more hype about him here. I think he could potentially set our defence right for the next 5 years or so. Still very raw but huge huge potential, in just one season in the French Ligue 1 he has proven himself to be one of the best CB with little top flight experience prior to his breakthrough. 30m euros is a no brainer. 

His pros:

Very strong in 1v1 challenge (reminds me of Kos, but a stronger built version)
Aerially pretty unbeatable
Proactive defending style, sticks close to his marker and even if he is turned by the striker he has excellent recovery pace.
Decent passing and long balls

Cons:
Goes to ground often (might not be that good here in a faster league)
Likes time on the ball which he will not get here
Very left footed

His every touch vid against Chelsea earlier this season

I rate him but there’s definitely something a little off putting about him

Is that touch video supposed to be a good, bad or average game for him?

Looks very much like Sokratis in that one.

It was absolutely horrible.

Left out of lilles squad for a friendly, and someone else is wearing his squad number (4)

Feels imminent. The jury is out but he is the right profile of player. Here's hoping he's the next Thiago Silva.

Done deal then get in?

imagine how great he will be when they tell him he's allowed to use his right foot.

Big thing going for him is that he’s 6ft 3, strong and quick. It makes everything else easier.

He doesn’t look great on the ball though, looks more Holding level on that front.

Never seen this kid play but only advice would be don’t get too excited.

Mustafi and the original Gabriel were supposed to be the dogs bollocks too and they both ultimately failed. I think signing a top, top defender that fits our needs is one of the hardest things in football.

How many good out and out central defenders did Wenger sign not named Sol Campbell?

Wenger basically had no clue when it came to defensive talent.

goon wrote:

Big thing going for him is that he’s 6ft 3, strong and quick. It makes everything else easier.

He doesn’t look great on the ball though, looks more Holding level on that front.

Which feels like cross-talk between Edu and Arteta. How are we supposed to build from the back with a guy who has only one functional foot? When Sterling and Jesus charge him down, we're screwed. That rear triangle needs to be three guys who are very comfortable on the ball. If you want to be able to build out of the back and advance quickly, you need to upgrade there. That's why we also need to upgrade Xhaka. It enhances your ability to break out of the press, advance the ball and catch the opposition off guard. 

It also allows you to play a City type raptor press. Their press is very different from the Liverpool press. It is high up the field and forces the ball to be cleared and sent back to your own defenders. Thus those guys need to be good on the ball. 

I see this defender, and it leaves me wondering what will we be doing stylistically?

(it's a bit like the Coutinho rumour - where he's good offensively but could be like Ozil defensively. and even on offense, where he excels is actually in making space for himself versus others. so a really good player, but how does he fix the issues of creating chances for Aubameyang and Pépé?)

flobaba wrote:

Wenger basically had no clue when it came to defensive talent.

It’s because there isn’t a lot of defensive talent out there. United paid £80m for a fridge, City have been dropping £50m a year on one for a decade, Liverpool have had to spend £70m to finally get one right.

There’s a lot of expectation on central defenders these days and I don’t think academies have caught up.

One touch comp isn't representative. He's got huge potential and Arteta ha already shown he can give defenders an environment to improve in. Seems a sound enough purchase with big upside, kind of thing Arsenal should be doing. If he went somewhere else, we'd be upset we didn't get him.

Claudius wrote:

I see this defender, and it leaves me wondering what will we be doing stylistically?

Play 3 center backs against big teams and a back four versus the rest ?