Gabriel Magalhaes has had to pull out of the Olympics with an injury problem that puts the start of his season with Arsenal in doubt.

Arsenal v Leeds United - Arsenal's Gabriel Magalhaes and Leeds United's Patrick Bamford battle for the ball during the Premier League match at The Emirates Stadium, London. Picture date: Sunday February 14, 2021. Copyright: Julian Finney
Arsenal v Leeds United – Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes and Leeds United’s Patrick Bamford battle for the ball during the Premier League match at The Emirates Stadium, London. Picture date: Sunday, February 14, 2021. Copyright: Julian Finney

The Brazilian media confirmed in the early hours of Wednesday morning that Gabriel Magalhaes has had to pull out of the Tokyo Olympics with an injury problem.

The issue is reportedly tendonitis in his right knee and swelling of the joint. He initially complained of pain after his first training session, but when physical therapy didn’t help he had an MRI to confirm the problem.

The centre-back has already left the Brazil camp, now likely to return to Arsenal for further assessment.

The worrying part is obviously that the Olympics doesn’t even start for another couple of weeks. If Brazil are already ruling Gabriel out now, clearly the injury isn’t anything he can brush off quickly.

Dr. Rajpal Brar pointed out in his video on Gabriel that the defender already had his knee taped up at the end of last season with Arsenal, so this clearly isn’t a new problem. The upside is he now has time to rest, with competitive matches still over a month away.

All the same, the new season is clearly in doubt for Gabriel. Arsenal are likely to enter the new campaign with only Rob Holding and Pablo Mari available, and Mikel Arteta might be thinking twice about what to do with William Saliba.