Player Analysis: Gabriel Magalhães
Gorgeous, Ginormous, Gabriel.
At the age of 22, Gabriel Magalhães has become one of the most promising prospects in Europe and Arsenal successfully signed him for 30 Million Euros, beating the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli, and Everton. This is huge for them, considering the potential Gabriel has shown last year in Lille. But how has he been doing so far? In this article, we will summarize two aspects of his game that looks promising under the last two games wearing The Gunners’ jersey.
Build Up Ability
Looking at how Gabriel plays in the Premier League against West Ham United and Fulham in the first two weeks of the competition, we can see that he is quite skilled at building up the offense from the backline. His ability to penetrate high pressing is an advantage for Arsenal since he is quite comfortable when he has to break high pressing lines using short or direct passes.
This can be seen in the percentage of the long passes he made. The indicator of a long pass is a pass with a distance that surpasses 25 yards. During two Premier League matches with Arsenal, Gabriel has a 91% completion percentage from 47 attempts for long passes. For short passes, Gabriel completed 95.2% out of his 147 attempts. One of the things that Gabriel good at is switching the play, as he is accurate knocking those passes using his dominant left foot to the right.bGabriel could be a better player if he’s willing to take more risks in his passes. But Mikel Arteta shouldn’t worry much about this as he will adapt over time.
Defensive Ability
Gabriel is a physically gifted player, as he is fast enough to catch up with quicker players although being 190 cm tall. He is both prominent on the air and land, as he completed 57% of his aerial duels from seven trials and 80% of his ground duels from five trials. Although Gabriel only recorded two tackles and three blocked shots in two matches, Gabriel’s ability to determine body position against attacks carried out by the enemy was quite good as seen in the photo below.
Two matches cannot be used as a benchmark to measure a player’s development. But if we look at the aspects of defense, build-up, and how the development of Gabriel’s mentality while he is on the field, it is not impossible that Gabriel will become a world-class defender in the hands of Arteta who has a clear vision and for Arsenal future.
Muhammad Alif Ramadhani is a history student who likes politics and culture but spends a lot of his time watching sports. He fell in love with football when Francesco Totti brought out his charisma and when Arsenal taught that family is the main source of strength. He also loves Dirk Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant who taught that effort and work ethics will never betray the results.
You can follow him on Instagram and Twitter to read his thoughts on politics, culture, and soccer.
