Arsenal have started this season with two successive wins and injury crisis has already hit them hard as Gabriel Magalhaes is yet to return. In the month of April, the Brazilian international suffered a hamstring injury in their victory against Fulham. Arsenal have their two defensive mainstays in the starting lineup. Frenchman William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes perform as a wall in Arsenal’s backline nowadays. While Saliba was already out with an injury, Gabriel followed him to and got injured. If everything goes in the right direction, Magalhaes himself hopes to return on the pitch very soon.
Is Gabriel Magalhaes the Best Defender in the EPL right now?
The English Premier League has produced so many legendary defenders throughout the years. From Jaap Stam, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry to Virgil Van Dijk, Cristian Romero and Gabriel Magalhaes, the list goes on. As mentioned earlier, Arsenal themselves have an extraordinary defensive pair of Gabriel and Saliba. While Van Dijk carries a lion’s share of votes with him as the best Premier League defender of this generation, Arsenal fans believe that their Brazilian centre back is definitely, if not then one of the finest of this generation. The 27-year-old defender was initially a part of the youth project of the Brazilian club, Avai Football Club. In 2017, Gabriel made his first big professional switch when he joined popular French club, LOSC Lille on a permanent move. He made a couple of short loan moves here and there for some years. Finally, in the 2020-21 season, Gabriel received his biggest move of his career so far. The young and tall Brazilian permanently signed for Arsenal that season. Since then, he has played in 213 official matches as a Gunner. And his stats confirm that indeed he is one of the best goalscoring defenders in the league. In those 213 matches, Gabriel has scored 20 goals. He also has 5 assists in his name by the way. Surely, his absence can hit setback to both his club and national team.
Arsenal Have an ‘Injury Prone Player’ in Their Squad
For sure, the English Premier League is widely considered as the toughest football league in the world for certain reasons. Sustaining injuries are also quite normal too. But some players get injured so often that the concerned clubs find it hard to get their services on important times. More or less every club has some injury-prone footballers. Here, Gabriel Magalhaes also falls under this category. Despite being a strong and agile defender, the player gets injured often. The record says that Magalhaes has missed some important games in almost every season for Arsenal. Only in the 2021-22 season, Arsenal didn’t get his services for 4 matches. But Arsenal missed him the most in the last season. Gabriel had to stay out of the ground for 123 days in total last season. During the last lap of the nail-biting title race against Liverpool, Arsenal missed the much-needed services of Gabriel Magalhaes for more than 100 days due to a hamstring injury. Magalhaes had to undergo surgery for this. Now, the player is totally focusing on his return to his best physical shape. Although he has played for some 90-minutes now, Gabriel feels that he is still far from his best shape. “So, I know I’m doing very well, I know the level I can still reach. I’m coming back from an injury, but I feel good and ready.” – said Magalhaes to the press in a recent interview.
What’s the Plan B for this Arsenal Team This Season?
Every big club keeps a plan B with them always. Likewise, Arsenal have this year brought in enough backup footballers. in almost every position. In case of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, the club has bought Christhian Mosquera and Hincapie as their decent backup for this season.
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