Arsenal officially complete £27million signing of Gabriel Magalhaes from Lille
Arsenal have complete the signing of Gabriel Magalhaes from Lille in a transfer the cost the Premier League side £27million.
Arsenal have been active in this summer’s transfer window after bringing in former Chelsea winger Willian in a free transfer last two weeks.
And while the Gunners continue to be linked with a host of other top talents across Europe, they have grabbed the services of another Brazilian in Magalhaes.
Magalhaes, 22, has put pen-to-paper on a five-year deal with the Gunners after snubbing interest from Napoli, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United.
After the center-back’s signature on paper, Arsenal’s technical director Edu said: “We are delighted to have signed Gabriel.
“He is a player we have been studying for a while and he was in demand from many clubs, so we are proud to have agreed and completed this transfer with Lille and the player.
“Gabriel is a player of high quality and Mikel and his coaches are looking forward to integrating him into the club.”
Gunners head coach Mikel Arteta added: “We welcome Gabriel to Arsenal. He has many qualities which will make us stronger as a defensive unit and as a team.
“He has proved with Lille that he is a defender with many outstanding attributes and we are looking forward to watching him grow as an Arsenal player.”
Gabriel’s representative, Guilherme Miranda, revealed last week that his client rejected more lucrative offers to join the Gunners, citing the key role the aforementioned duo played in his final decision.
He told journalist Freddie Paxton: “Arsenal was nowhere near the best proposal [money-wise].
“Gabriel chose them over more lucrative offers because Edu convinced us of the project.
“It’s 100 per cent because of Edu Gaspar and [Mikel] Arteta.”
The transfer was announced as part of a ‘very special video call’ featuring David Luiz, Willian, and their new Brazilian teammate.
The 22-year old was also scouted by Chelsea, Everton and Inter Milan before finally signing until the end of 2025. He revealed after his signing that; “Edu and I had several chats about Arsenal and the new project, we had many good conversations, he told Arsenal Digital.
“As the days went by I was getting very excited about it, then I had a call from the coach and that was very reassuring.
“Having the coach himself calling you to say he wants you in his squad motivates you a lot. That is the very reason I am here today.
“We did not talk about (details), he just told me he is aware of my quality, my capacity and how far I can go. He also said he will be very demanding with me.
“I know he is a great coach and I will make progress with his help.”
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