Arsenal: The clever transfer one year in the making

Lambasted over the summer for spending a club record summer spend on back-up signings, Arsenal and their recruitment has been a key talking point across this Premier League season.

It would turn out that their expenditure was not reserved for bench bolstering. The 2-0 win was not the first time this campaign that all six of the new arrivals were on the pitch at once.

Martin Odegaard’s second half substitution saw him join his five other teammates on the pitch, with the other five players on the pitch all either signed under Mikel Arteta previously or having been handed new contracts during his tenure.

With the likes of Aaron Ramsdale being steeped in praise alongside his fellow recent signings, it’s the presence of another who has been sensational since making his first appearance of the season.

Gabriel was a clever Arsenal transfer one year in the making as his second season under Mikel Arteta is him in his best form to date

Gabriel was a transfer one year in the making.

Bought for £27m in September 2020, the towering Brazilian was signed amid growing European interest who had seen him prosper in Ligue 1 and look at home in the Champions League for Lille. Arsenal won the race ahead of heavy interest.

Making the move to the Premier League at the age of 22, as promising as he had been in his early weeks at the club, Gabriel had to be seen as a long-term investment. Unfamiliar with the division, not able to speak the language and still in the early stages of his development, some may have been guilty of expecting too much from Gabriel in his debut season.

This was a player who needed time, adjustment and the comfort of a settled defence – with sights being set on the coming summer – unlike that he played his part in for large spells of the 2020/21 campaign. Just over one year on and the strides taken by him are quite remarkable.

Each facet of his game is improving. The quality of his passing had been singled out as an area in need of improving, but it is choice of pass that was in need of fine-tuning. His decision making in and out of possession has developed at a rapid rate, knowing when to break off his line and when to release the ball.

He’s a delightful blend of a no-nonsense centre-back and a composed ball-playing midfielder. In the air he wins aerials not only due to his frame but also his positioning, and the carries he makes out from the back are well-timed and measured.

Looking across the squad there are plenty of examples of players who’ve developed incredibly under Arteta, with Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka usually highlighted, but Gabriel has to feature on that list as someone who has been used in just the right way to be where he is today.

A transfer one year in the making, the all-rounded ability he has at just 23 years old is frightening: maturity, composure, physicality and aggression combine in devastating fashion. It’s now 14 consecutive starts for the Brazilian where he hasn’t ended up on the losing side.

In and out of the team last term, this season was all about trusting his talent: let him play through any mistakes instead of being punished for them. Alongside Benjamin White and in front of Ramsdale, Arsenal are reaping the rewards of yet another fine piece of business over the past 12 months.