Lille president Gerard Lopez says the club have made a recommendation to Gabriel Magalhaes over whether to choose Arsenal or Napoli.
![Lopez: We've told Gabriel where we think he should go 1 Lille's Brazilian defender Gabriel dos Santos Magalhaes (R) fights for the ball with Montpellier's French forward Gaetan Laborde during the French L1 football match between Lille OSC (LOSC) and Montpellier Herault Sport Club (MHSC) at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, on December 13, 2019. (Photo by FRANCOIS LO PRESTI / AFP) (Photo by FRANCOIS LO PRESTI/AFP via Getty Images)](/static/uploads/2020/08/fbl-fra-ligue1-lille-montpellier-1024x683.jpg)
Gerard Lopez claims Gabriel Magalhaes will finally make a decision over his next club either today or tomorrow, and Lille made a recommendation to him over whether to pick Arsenal or Napoli.
Arsenal fans are impatiently waiting for an answer, though all the signs are starting to point towards a move to North London. Until it actually happens, however, everyone will speculate about the delay.
It’s very possible Gabriel’s own decision clashes with what Lille are pushing him to do. Lopez admitted to talkSPORT they did advise the player where to go.
“I think it’s fair to say that Arsenal is of high interest to him, Napoli is of high interest to him,” Lopez said. “We’ve given him plenty of time to make up his mind…whenever we have the number that we want (in terms of fee), feel free to choose.
“I don’t think I’m giving up too much if I tell you that choice is going to be made probably between today and tomorrow.
“We’ve given him some recommendations, but we don’t like to talk [about] it in public because we don’t want people to feel bad or whatever. But yes, we’ve told him where we think he could and should go.
“But at the end of the day, he and his environment make their choice and we support that.”
There’s a slight suspicion Lille may want to push Gabriel towards Napoli. The two clubs already did business earlier in the summer for Victor Osimhen, and some Italian outlets claim that came with a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ for Gabriel’s transfer too.
But it really shouldn’t matter to Lille. They’re getting the same money either way, and they did major business with Arsenal too, just last summer. As long as Gabriel wants to come to North London, as the rumours suggest, it should happen.