BREAKING: Mikel Arteta and Arsenal are not panicking over Gabriel’s departure as Saudi Arabia side Al-Hilal wants to unite the player with his countryman Neymar Jr- £100M bid already submitted to Arsenal
Arsenal not panicking over Gabriel future amid £100m Saudi Arabia transfer speculation
Any sale of Gabriel to a Saudi Pro League club would be “staggering” according to Charles Watts, who expects the Brazilian centre-back to stay put at the Emirates Stadium where he has become such a dominant figure.
Gabriel has been linked with a sensational £100million move to Saudi Arabia having been left out of Mikel Arteta’s first starting line-up of the season against Nottingham Forest on Saturday but Watts believes his omission was merely evidence of the manager’s desire to make Arsenal more unpredictable this season.
“He’s not down the pecking order and I was really surprised he didn’t start [against Nottingham Forest],” says Watts. “He started the whole way through preseason.
“Whether that was something to do with this reported interest from Saudi Arabia, but I’d be staggered if Arsenal sold Gabriel two weeks before the end of the transfer window.
“He’s such an influential player, such a key player. He’s one of the big leaders in the dressing room in the squad.
“I fully expect him to come back into the team against Crystal Palace on Monday night.”
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Gabriel is hugely-important for Arsenal
Arsenal utilised Ben White at centre-back alongside William Saliba at the weekend with Thomas Partey and new signing Jurrien Timber filling the full-back roles.
With Timber injured, Oleksandr Zinchenko is likely to revert to left-back when he returns to full fitness but Watts expects Gabriel to remain an Arsenal player beyond the end of the summer transfer window. The ex-Lille man joined in 2020 and recently signed a contract extension until 2027.
“Mikel just made a tactical call when it comes to starting XIs. I think we’re going to see that more and more from Arteta this season. He wants to be unpredictable.
I think he’s going to look at the opposition, how they’re going to play and he’s going to pick team selections because of that. Having Timber there gave him the option to do that as well, because he’s so versatile.
“I don’t think Arsenal have received any bids for Gabriel. There might well be interest from Saudi Arabia but I’d be staggered If Arsenal would even entertain the prospect of losing such a massively important and influential player in their squad just a couple of weeks before the transfer window shuts.”
