Report: Arsenal confident of sealing £27m Gabriel deal this week

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The Times have claimed that Arsenal are ‘confident’ of completing the £27million signing of Lille defender Gabriel ‘this week’, fending off competition from Napoli and Everton to land the Brazilian defender.

Gabriel, 22, has only broken into the Lille side on a regular basis in the past couple of seasons – but has played a crucial part in helping Lille qualify for the Champions League, and then played all six group games in 2019-20.

Lille are slowly emerging as one of the stronger forces in French football, after an excellent transfer strategy has seen them bring in enormous amounts of cash for both Victor Osimhen and Nicolas Pepe. Gabriel could be next.

The report claims that Arsenal are optimistic over completing their first summer signing in the form of Gabriel for a fee of £27million, and that a deal could be completed this week. It is believed they have agreed a five-year deal.

TBR’s view – Gabriel should start – but alongside who?

The report claims that Mikel Arteta has made Rob Holding, Calum Chambers and Sokratis available for transfer in order to fund Gabriel. So, he has the choice of David Luiz, Pablo Mari, Shkodran Mustafi and William Saliba.

Mustafi has improved but is hardly first choice, while Saliba has shown excellent form in France but is far from the finished article. Luiz would fit in well, especially given are both Brazilian. But if Mari is fit, he should partner Gabriel.