Arsenal coaches are regularly encouraging 26-year-old to be a leader

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Journalist Art de Roche has suggested that many of the Arsenal coaches have regularly been encouraging Gabriel Magalhaes to be more of a leader, particularly in his partnership with William Saliba.

Gabriel Magalhaes has had an outstanding season for the Gunners. It is remarkable to think now that there seemed to be a question mark over whether he would remain in North London beyond last summer. He was not an automatic-starter in the first few games.

But he has been superb since regaining his place. Declan Rice noted that he has been surprised by how good Gabriel has been since the midfielder signed from West Ham.

Arsenal coaches encouraging Gabriel Magalhaes to be a leader

The partnership between Gabriel and William Saliba continues to get better and better. And with that, you could easily forget that the Frenchman is still only 22 years of age.

Saliba has been outstanding. And Gabriel can perhaps take a fair amount of credit for that, with de Roche telling Handbrake Off that the Brazilian is being encouraged behind the scenes to embrace the senior role.

“I remember that was a few weeks ago and I asked Mikel about it, and he mentioned how mature Gabriel has become because of things both on the pitch and off the pitch. And obviously he’s started his own family which helps with that,” he said.

“Also, speaking to a few people at the club, they mentioned how a lot of the coaches put quite a lot of focus in actually telling him that he would be more the leader in that Saliba-Gabriel partnership. Obviously, Saliba’s only 22 years old.”

Lot more to come from Gunners squad

Those players who, like Gabriel, are at the peak of their powers do have an important role within Mikel Arteta’s squad.

There are only a handful of older players who regularly feature in Arteta’s lineups. So it is important that the likes of Gabriel, Ben White, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus help set the standard.

What has been so impressive is how consistent those players have been. Gabriel and White are arguably having their best seasons for the club. Meanwhile, Rice looks so comfortable in the Arsenal midfield that no-one is discussing whether it was money well spent to smash their transfer record.

And what is frightening is that there is plenty more to come from that group.