Barcelona are reportedly considering a move for Gabriel Magalhaes this summer with a few players in that position expected to leave the club but the Arsenal man was quick to shut down any speculation that he wanted to leave.
One of the surest signs that Arsenal are heading somewhere, albeit slowly, is that Barcelona are being linked with more and more Arsenal players.
After taking Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on a free that Xavi called a ‘gift fallen from the sky’, they are now apparently eyeing up Gabriel.
As I said at the time the rumour first emerged, the sale of Gabriel seemed unlikely to be sanctioned by the club, given his integral role within Mikel Arteta’s first team, but I did wonder what Barcelona’s interest would do to Gabriel himself.
Turns out, I had nothing to worry about.
Around 24 hours after the rumour started to take hold, Gabriel was in the press talking about how much he loved Arsenal.
“Well in my first season I certainly learnt a lot,” Gabriel told Premier League Productions, when asked to sum up his time at Arsenal.
“It’s been a real challenge here and I am more and more settled every day. I feel better and better with each passing game. At the same time, we know we all can’t be perfect in every match. We do make mistakes.
“But I feel good, I feel at home at Arsenal. It’s a great squad to be a part of and together I am sure we can achieve a lot.
“I am very happy here.”
Barcelona may not be where they were when they were terrorising us in the Champions League, they are still in a far better position than Arsenal, currently. There is always a fear that a player’s head could be turned.
Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
The 24-year-old central defender, currently valued at around £27m (Arsenal paid £23.4m for him), is under contract with Arsenal until 2025.
Gabriel also spoke about Arsenal’s race for the top four.
“Reaching the top four is our aim, but we know how tough it will be,” Gabriel added.
“It’s a big challenge but I do believe we can get there. We are working hard and it’s the target we want to achieve. We have to stick together.
“We need to be focused to get good results.”