What can you get for almost £80million in football these days?
Depending on how adept your recruitment team are, you can get two elite centre backs who are at the top of their game.
Ben White arrived at Arsenal for a fee of £50million and the reaction to his signing was met with more questions over whether the club had overpaid for the defender.
Similarly, Gabriel arrived with a reputation as one of the most promising young centre backs in Europe but pundits were asking whether he’d be able to adapt to the English game.
Many of those questions were valid at the time and it’s fair to say that Gabriel has worked hard to overcome his early issues which included an inability to communicate fluently in English.
The Brazilian took weekly English lessons which helped his communication with centre-back partner Ben White, and now he has formed one of the most solid partnership in the league which are
"He doesn’t speak much English. I don’t speak Portuguese," White explained during a livestream on Twitch.
"There’s not much we can say to each other.
"[But] we know what we have to do. We just click."
Mikel Arteta revealed earlier in the season that he was surprised at how fast the centre backs have adapted to each other.
"Yes, because they never played together, because Gabi is still a little bit struggling with the language and they didn’t have any time to work together in pre-season," said Arteta.
"They are getting a really good connection, good chemistry and I think their qualities match and compliment each other really well. I think both of them were terrific."
But perhaps the biggest testament to Arsenal's centre back partnership is those from the outside suggesting that they both have potential to become captain of the club.
"I think it’ll be Ben White or Gabriel," former Arsenal and England centre-half Martin Keown said when asked about who will succeed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as Arsenal captain.
"Ben White and Gabriel and Tomiyasu or KT or Nuno [Tavares], whenever they’re playing, we actually really enjoy defending," said goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
"Ben said to me in the middle of the game: 'When you make a save, I just want to punch you in the face!'”
As Arsenal players continue to enjoy every aspect of defending the club they play for, there is quiet optimism around Emirates Stadium that a continued push for top four remains a possibility.
