Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes will miss the rest of the season with his hamstring injury requiring surgery, the Premier League club have confirmed.
The Gunners star picked up the hamstring injury during the first half of their 2-1 victory over Fulham in the Premier League on Tuesday evening.
Gabriel will now miss the rest of the Premier League run-in, while Arsenal are also competing to win the Champions League with a two-legged quarter-final against Real Madrid beginning next week.
Reacting to the injury after the match, Arteta told reporters: “Worried because he never wants to come off and he had to.
“He’s not very sure how big it is and what it is exactly but he felt he that he could not continue.”
When asked if Gabriel will be fit to face Real Madrid in the Champions League next week, Arteta replied: “Depends, there’s a week there but I will say with the way he is normally… difficult.”
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano brought the bad news onto social media on Thursday by confirming the Arsenal centre-back will be out for the rest of the season.
Romano wrote on X: “Gabriel Magalhaes will be out until the end of the season. Gabriel requires surgery on his hamstring injury and will be out until the start next season.”
Before Arsenal officially confirmed the news, the Premier League club wrote: “Further to being substituted during our match against Fulham on Tuesday, we can confirm that Gabriel Magalhaes has sustained a hamstring injury which requires surgery.
“Gabi will undergo a surgical repair procedure to his hamstring in the coming days, and immediately begin his recovery and rehabilitation programme, with the aim to be ready for the start of next season.
“Everyone at the club will be fully focused on supporting Gabi to ensure he is back to full fitness as soon as possible.”
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Reacting to Gabriel’s injury and potentially facing Real Madrid without the Brazilian, Arsenal legend Ian Wright told Premier League Productions on Tuesday: “It’s a massive miss.
“It’s just as big in respects of what Saka does for us going forward, then Gabriel going the other way, set-pieces, leadership, warrior that we need.
“I think whatever you say, the drop-off from Gabriel, I don’t know how fit Calafiori is at the moment, but when you’re looking at someone going that quick and pulling up like that, that’s not two weeks, that a month, that’s six weeks, you can see it there, he knows himself.
“The thing is, I know we’re jumping ahead and speaking about Real Madrid because it is a massive game, it is the big game of the season for us.
“Without Gabi Magalhaes in that game you’re looking at Kiwior even today [against Fulham], there’s a couple of positional moves that you just cannot afford to do when you play against Real Madrid.
“They are looking for any chink in the armour to exploit, so you need people who are absolutely bang on it, to be able to keep Real Madrid to no goals at home. If Gabi Magalhaes was there I would feel more confident about that.”