As reported by Arseblog News on 1 July, Brazilian forward Gio has left the club to join Atletico Madrid on a permanent transfer. Gio joined the club from Barcelona two summers ago and was immediately loaned to Everton for the 2022-23 season.
However, injuries to Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema caused Arsenal to recall the player from loan for the second half of the 2022-23 season, though she still was not included in the club’s Champions League squad for the knockout rounds.
A number of loan options were explored for the player in England and Spain at the beginning of the 2023-24 season (including Atletico Madrid), all of which fell through and the player was not registered in Arsenal’s 25-strong squad for the first half of the campaign.
Gio joined Madrid CFF on loan in January where she scored nine goals in 16 appearances and now she joins Atletico Madrid, whose academy she spent some time in as a teenager. Arsenal could play Atletico in a Champions League qualifier in September.
Seems that Arsenal was a complete waste of time for her. Good luck to her getting things back on track, and surely Arsenal shouldn’t be making mistakes like this?
First thoughts on this is the club have made a mess over the purchase of Gio, they probably thought there’s a talent here that we can mold into a quality front line player, who may challenge/provide backup to Mead/Foord further down the line. Loan her out and watch her grow, but injuries kicked in and her development stuttered. The club then regularly invested in ready made players Heath, Caldentey, Hurtig, Lacasse already having Mead/Foord/McCabe as options and of course someone famously once said you don’t win anything with kids! The club couldn’t find a home for her so kept loaning… Read more »
Tobin Heath left Arsenal before Gio signed.
Didn’t Gio say in an interview a few months ago that Arsenal “messed with her head”. At least from her perspective she wasn’t handled well.
What else do you expect if Jonas is involved?
What can you say apart from mishandled? Yes she had injuries but even when she came back from loan she was fit to play when others were not and we did not even register her in the squad when we had registered players that were not going to play. You can’t help feeling we just hindered her development for a couple of years but let’s chalk it up to experience and trust the management team to learn from it.
I think Arsenal really erred by recalling her from loan during her first season then not playing her. Pointless, stunted her development and just created bad feeling.
Very pleased for the player, we handle her situation well and it’s no surprise she wasn’t happy.
Having said that, I don’t think we will rue letting her go.
*didn’t handle