Arsenal icon Kevin Campbell has now been sharing his thoughts on Gabriel Magalhaes’ season under Mikel Arteta thus far.
Campbell was speaking on the ‘Highbury Squad’ podcast and began by explaining why he thought Gabriel was rotated early in the season.
The Brazilian was often left out for Jakub Kiwior, with some believing transfer speculation was the reason.
However, Campbell believed it was a tactical ploy, and one that eventually proved why Gabriel could be more crucial to the Arsenal back four than William Saliba.
Campbell said: “But also, he [Gabriel] allows and this is why I believe, he was kind of rested a bit at the start of the season, he allows Zinchenko to join in.
“What tends to normally happen is if a player leaves the back four and goes up, somebody will go in his spot. They don’t need to. Gabriel will handle all of that left-hand side, centre-back to left-back when Zinchenko goes inside.
“But because he wasn’t there, that’s why you had Saliba on the left-hand side, you had Ben White, and that’s why Thomas Partey played there because Mikel Arteta wanted the inverted one to go from the right-hand side earlier on in the season.
“But as soon as Zinchenko was fit, we still needed to use Gabriel. Gabriel for me is the glue. People think Saliba’s the glue, no, Saliba is the Rolls-Royce.”
Kevin Campbell suggests Gabriel Magalhaes is a little understated at Arsenal
Of course, Campbell was in no way suggesting that William Saliba’s role has been overstated.
Instead, he was just delineating how crucial both parts of Arsenal’s centre-back partnership are.
Saliba is often the headliner, but Gabriel is also doing a vital job.
And with Declan Rice sat ahead of the duo at Brentford, Arsenal looked to have an incredibly imposing spine to their side.
Although Arsenal have suffered a little in their creativity of late, it does seem as if a brilliant foundation is now in place to improve upon up top.
Mikel Arteta’s side have stopped conceding unnecessary goals, meaning the path to win is now a more straightforward one.
And with Arsenal now being linked with some quite incredible targets next summer, it may be time to push the boat out for a record-breaking £120m deal.
Campbell is right in stating £24m Gabriel’s importance at Arsenal, a player who will allow the side to focus their business on offensive acquisitions.
And if it wasn’t already, Arteta’s project could be about to get very exciting.
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