Valencia boss Marcelino has confirmed he’s keeping tabs on three potential defensive recruits, including Arsenal’s Gabriel.
The new boss at the Mestalla managed the Gunners Brazilian centre-back for two seasons at Villarreal and has identified him, alongside Inter Milan’s Colombian international Jeison Murillo and Porto’s Ivan Marcano, as a target for the current transfer window.
“I think they’re possible,” Marcelino is quoted as saying by Tuttomercatoweb.
“We’re talking about important players who already know our League. They speak Spanish, and that’s important, so their adaptation would be very quick.”
Arsenal need to trim their squad ahead of the new campaign and could be tempted to cash in on a player who, while able back-up, has struggled to nail down a regular starting berth at the Emirates. No doubt, we’re still paying off some of the fee paid to Valencia last summer for Shkodran Mustafi, a player ahead of Gabriel in the pecking order.
Gabriel is currently sidelined with a knee injury sustained on the final day of the Premier League season and will miss today’s Community Sheild. He’s on the mend though and should be fully fit in the next three weeks.
Chambers or Gabriel, it’s a no-brainer to be honest.
Move Gabriel on, pay off whatever we still owe over the Mustafi deal.
I do like Gabriel’s work ethic (Despite being a Brazilian, he doesn’t party and is family oriented) but Chambers has the potential and being English, has a premium if we ever decide to cash in later in the future.
Time for Arsene to move some people on, trim the squad and that super duper quality of at least one that we still miss!
Or this could turn into another long season of mediocrity. Act quick Arsenal.
I don’t know why i always hear Chambers has a higher potential than Gabriel. It’s not to say i disagree but i think everyone is writing off a player who admittedly has struggled to adapt but brings a lot of the character we lack as a squad whilst still not being at his full potential himself. Chambers is a young player with fantastic potential in terms of footballing ability but Gabriel has earned his right to be at a top level club starting from the bottom of Brazilian football. Just being able to survive it that kind of environment imbues… Read more »
As far aspotential is concerned, I think Chambersstill has a lot to prove…..
I’m not sure either is convincing. Both are likely to be second choice. Both could get better. I’m not sure it makes a huge amount of difference which one we sell, at least in the short term.
Chambers has youth on his side, and he is English.
Andre Santos came from a smaller club than Gabriel. Not sure that means much to mentality.
The club André came from was in Brazil’s Série A, he was used to play first tier… From Figueirense he went to Corinthians the leader of brasileirao, so nothing compared to Gabriel
Didn’t he come from Galatasary?
Agreed.
Chambers loan or sell for £16m with a buy back clause that would make good business for us.
Gabriel, has all the quality and for football he is still young, very comparable to lolo at 26, let’s not forget he wasn’t always this mercurial CB. Gabriel makes a few mistakes but assuming he can get s run of games he has huge potential. Biggest issue, injuries.
Who would have thought
With the current defensive situation, would we not be better off to look at a loan with a fee around £2m and re-evaluate in 12 months time…
It’s a tough one isn’t it? I kinda like Gabriel, I think we all do, but there’s always a fear of him making some silly mistake when he’s playing. I guess he’s a great defender for teams battling for European places (in any league), just not for the very top. Looks like it’s the case of him vs. Chambers. Though let’s not forget Mertesacker is retiring at the end of the season, Koscielny will be 32 in a month time and then we only have Mustafi, Gabriel, Holding and Chambers (+ Bielik who hasn’t even made his PL debut despite… Read more »
Of course we can say “let’s sell Gabriel now and then buy a world-class CB later when/if needed” but how likely is it that this is going to happen at Arsenal?
It is an intriguing one. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Kos the boss was subject to a few mad moments in his early days… still can be, see reason for current suspension.
Certainly not as clear cut as some say though I think fall just into the Chambers camp.
Still given age of other CB on the books, and question marks over how long Kos’ tendons will last, I’d rather see a contract extension and loan move for one of them. Or loan out Holding.
You’re spot on about Kos: The Early Years. He was sent off a bit and, if I remember, gave away some penalties–bottom line, he made you doubt him. But he was given a real opportunity and no one doubts him anymore.
Early years?!
He got sent off in his last match making a ridiculous tackle and missed the cup final as a result. He also got sent off against Bayern, he’s still liable to stupid moments.
Surely you’re not having a go at Boss?! All defenders make the occasional rash challenge but that’s the nature of his position. High risk, big rewards.
Did you just menion Bielek Arsene?
Gabriel is probably a bit quicker & more flexible position wise compared to Chambers but he’s also older & Chambers looks to have the potential to be a genuine 1st team regular CB in the future, Gabi doesn’t. Good move to shift him on if poss. We’ve youngsters who can cover RB if we go back to a 4 & Gabriel is no RWB in a 3
I would keep Chambers and sell Gabriel
Why not keep them both ?
Why not sell them both and buy better quality? And why have we not sold virtually ANYONE yet (besides Chezzer)?!!?!
not fifa.
No mention of the home-grown quota.
If we’re selling Gibbs, Wilshere, Szczesney, possibly losing the Ox.. then we’re definitely losing at least 4 HG players.
Gabriel isn’t one, Chambers is. For me it’s a no-brainer.
Welbeck, Holding, Ramsey, Iwobi, Theo are homegrown plus Bellerin, Coquelin, Martinez qualify as homegrown. Maitland Niles, Reiss Nelson are also homegrown but don’t count as they’re u21 right now
Gabriel just hasn’t really developed enough over his time at Arsenal, has he….decision-making questionable, but we all like him nonetheless because he always puts in a shift…..tough one
He’s been here two & a half years and hasn’t really improved. No brainer for me to move him on if we get a decent offer.
I really like Gabriel.
He’s been unlucky with injuries at bad times, and hasn’t really had an extended run.
Saying that I’m open to any player leaving providing that player is improved upon with a ready made upgrade.
6 central defenders is too many (7 if you consider Monreal). Someone has to go.
Gabby isn’t a first choice, so if a decent offer comes in, then it should be accepted.
Thought Cambers did well against Benfica and deserves another chance, even if that’s in Europa / league cup games
i would argue with a back 3 thats cover for each position injuries and rotation will play a big par.
Take right now as an example we own 6 cb yet we spent the majority of the game today with lb’s in cb.
not too many if you play 3 every match. Imagine 2 out of the 6 get injured, then you’re really on thin ice
Lots of sentiment in the comments. Look, I am all for sympathy and affection towards our lads, but it’s success we are seeking, right? We aren’t ruining a player’s career by moving him to a different club, thus I don’t see much point behind saying smth like “I like the guy so I’d hate to let him go”.
Let’s sell the current underachievers (whoever you see as such) to decent teams for (hopefully) solid money, and everyone will be happy.
Gabriel at his best is excellent and that is what we’re aiming at seeing more of in the future so no sell. Chambers was the young prospect we paid quite a wedge for 3 years ago and he looked promising then. What happened with that?
Not interested in selling either myself. However, there’s a very good natured half British half Finnish lad called Jenkinson in our squad and as it happens he’s on his way out. Should Sevilla want him they are very welcome.
all this talk of Chambers having a higher ceiling than Gabriel, but Gabriel vs Man City in the semi was the best defensive display i’ve seen from an Arsenal CB in years
What about Mertersacker in the final? Considering he hadn’t played in so long as well, he was phenomenal
Gabriel has improved over last season. Like Elneny he is essentially a back up content to come off the bench, not the best but decent enough. OTOH, Chambersas I mentioned may not be ‘on his way out’. He’s still young, and has great potential. I’m not sure why people feel he should be sold. Koscielny may last another season or so but in current system, we have Monreal and Klasinac able to cover, even Elneny did a decent enough job, there is the unflappable and young Holding and we have Chambers…that’s not to mention the excellent Mustafi. So there is… Read more »
If I had to choose between the two, I’d take Chambers over Gabriel for the reasons many have already mentioned here. Truth is, if you’re actually being honest, you’d have to put Gabriel in the same category as Senderos and Djourou at the moment. He can get better for sure, but that’s where he is right now
Take the money and run
Don’t get me wrong, Gabriel is a very good, valuable squad player. The thing is that he is not WC and looks like he’ll never be. We also have a huge squad right now with 7 CBs and no deadwood is accepting a move because of wages. This is going to lead us loosing players like Gabby or Giroud who actually are quality and clubs are willing to pay a decent fee and wages for them. That said, this is just an innevitable backlash of our poor transfer and wage strategy that has rewarded average players with a comfortable position… Read more »
Puzzles me that everyone keeps saying Gabriel speaks Spanish. He’s Brazilian and speaks only Portuguese.
I think Wenger is hoping to off-load both Chambers and Gabriel. Chambers never seemed to recover from being pushed too hard too as a result of injury to others. I don’t think he ever recovered his confidence after Moreno savaged him a couple of seasons ago.
We have to sell players. The squad is too big. Gabriel, Wilshere, Elneny and Welbeck can be sold if a decent offer comes in. Campbell, Debuchy, Jenko and Gibbs should be sold asap. And as much as I love Santi his contract is a waste of money and an uncertainty. We have Xhaka, Ramsey and even elneny ahead of him now. Of course a fit and healthy Santi would be an automatic starter. But that is no longer the case. As for Chambers, we gotta remember Per will retire at the end of the season. Koss won’t be able to… Read more »
I hate it, stop quoting world class for the cb position… there is only a handful of world class cbs in the world we have one of them already… we have no chance in buying another in this transfer climate… but we can mould one out of what we got if we are extremely lucky… When Gabriel is on song he is a beast….. why would we sell him, it takes time to adapt to the premier league why sell him now when we could benefit from the fruits of our labour on the pitch this season… As for chambers… Read more »
No brainer for me – Gabriel is 5 times faster than Chambers ever will be.
Loan out chambers, re-assess next summer.
I think arsenal should not sell or loan Gabriel. we are lacking depth and experience in Rob Holding and Chambers. Per, seriously, is no longer top notch plus he is prone to injuries. Kos is always close to the injury table. We are left with Mustafi. Please don’t count Nacho or Sead as CBs because they are not.
I fear our defense will be the biggest challenge this season. I have not seen the cutting edge or ruthlessness in our defense. Match fitness? Time will tell