Mikel Arteta has delivered an emphatic response to suggestions that Gabriel Magalhaes could be set to leave Arsenal.
Reports emerged this week that the Brazilian is the subject of interest from Saudi Arabia and Read Madrid. The Gunners are hoping to offload players before the transfer window closes on September 1 and Gabriel was left on the bench for the second Premier League game running during Monday night’s clash with Crystal Palace after starting the previous 73.
Arteta, however, restated his stance that the 25-year-old is still part of his plans and insisted that the decision to leave him among the substitutes was purely tactical.
“It’s about the games that we were expecting, what I was expecting, how we wanted to defend and attack and our belief it was the best thing,” he said when asked to explain his selection choice. “He’s played in both games (off the bench against both Palace and Nottingham Forest), he’s helped us to win both games for different reasons. He was really good today, he absolutely dominated the box. He’s going to play a lot of games. That’s the decision sometimes.”
When pressed after on if there were any plans to let Gabriel go before the end of the window Arteta simply shook his head to indicate no.
Gabriel was introduced almost immediately after Takehiro Tomiyasu was sent off for a second yellow card at Selhurst Park. The Brazilian was dominant in the air, completed 100 per cent of his passes and took the captain’s armband after Martin Odegaard’s withdrawal as Arsenal held on to secure the kind of backs to the wall victory that previous vintages have struggled to achieve.
Speaking after the match Arteta was absolutely delighted with the way his side had won. “I loved it, absolutely loved it,” he said. “It’s a really difficult place to come, we played the way we wanted to play 11 against 11. We dominated the game, we created enough chances, we missed two very, very huge chances that normally he [presumably Nketiah for both] puts away.
“We continued playing the way we wanted to, Eddie earned us the right to go ahead with his action. We scored the penalty and then we have to play half an hour with 10 men. It’s a conflict we didn’t prepare for but we had to adapt and the players were fantastic. I don’t think we gave anything away. The subs were great, the way they came out, the concentration, the focus, how much they helped the team, the coaching. They changed momentum in many occasions of the game. So really happy.”
Making use of the full depth of his squad has been something of a running theme for Arteta since his Arsenal side returned for pre-season. Having started eight players in every game prior to the World Cup break last season, the Spaniard seems to be intent on shuffling his deck depending on what the game requires. There remains a high possibility that Gabriel could return to the starting XI for next Saturday’s match against Fulham. It seems highly likely from Arteta’s comments that the Brazilian will be involved in many Arsenal matches beyond that too.
