Comparing Gabriel’s 2019-20 stats to Arsenal’s current centre-backs
Arsenal have confirmed the signing of Lille defender Gabriel Magalhaes in a €26million deal, with the 22-year-old signing a long-term deal in north London.
We’ve compared Gabriel’s 2019-20 Ligue 1 stats to the corresponding league figures of Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis, David Luiz, Calum Chambers and William Saliba.
Note: Pablo Mari and Rob Holding have been excluded due to a lack of game-time.
Defensive stats
A centre-back making a high number of tackles is not always a positive, and their tackle success rate is perhaps more illuminating.
Gabriel comes out on top in this regard, completing 85.7% of his attempted tackles. Chambers is in second place, completing 84%, followed by Saliba (77.3%).
Mustafi and Luiz both have a tackle success rate of 76.9%, while Sokratis records the lowest figure at 68.4%.
Gabriel also won 65.4% of his aerial battles in 2019-20, which was bettered only by Mustafi (77.8%) and Sokratis (67.4%). Saliba (61.4%), Chambers (54.5%) and Luiz (51.6%) all trail the Lille defender.
In terms of interceptions, Saliba makes the most with 1.9 per 90 minutes, followed by Mustafi (1.4), Chambers (1.3), Luiz (1.1), Sokratis (0.9) and Gabriel (0.9).
Saliba also records the fewest fouls per 90 minutes, averaging just 0.2. Gabriel is in second place with 0.8, followed by Mustafi (0.9), Luiz (0.9), Sokratis (1.0) and Chambers (1.5).
READ: Gabriel next? The 24 players Arsenal have signed from Ligue 1
Build-up play
While centre-backs are judged first and foremost on their defending, they increasingly need to be comfortable on the ball.
Gabriel’s passing accuracy (82.2%) is the lowest of the six players in question. Saliba (88%) leads the way, followed by Sokratis (87.9%), Luiz (84.7%), Mustafi (82.8%) and Chambers (82.4%).
Gabriel’s long pass success rate of 39.5% is also bettered by the Arsenal defenders. Saliba (61%) comes out on top, with Mustafi in second with 52.8%, followed by Luiz (49.1%), Sokratis (48.7%) and Chambers (40.3%).
Defenders aren’t renowned for their goalscoring exploits and Gabriel only registered one goal for Lille in Ligue 1 in 2019-20.
Luiz leads the way with two goals and one assist, while Sokratis has scored twice, Chambers has one goal and one assist, and Mustafi has a solitary assist. Saliba failed to make a direct goal contribution.
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