Gabriel Magalhaes is currently, on form, the best central defender in the league. In 2023 he has shown himself to be a consistent performer, a dominating presence at the back and has significantly developed the weaker aspects of his game, such as his distribution, to a very good level.
It’s not been absolutely perfect and his mistakes in the home game against Manchester City certainly highlighted this. However, Arsenal have the Brazilian to thank for many high-profile top performances this season as the defender who looked as though he could become the new club scapegoat has now roundly quelled those fears.
Back in October, I wrote a piece which attempted to stop the growing criticism of Gabriel, pointing out how the Brazilian had responded to his errors and how he was outperforming other top-level centre-halves at the same time. It’s fair to say that he has only improved since then and, certainly since the World Cup, performed slightly better than the frequently lauded William Saliba.
