Amid all the excitement surrounding Arsenal’s deadline-day signing of Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid, some may have already looked at fellow summer arrival Gabriel as ‘yesterday’s news’.
After all, the Gunners had finally landed a truly world-class, dominant central midfielder in Partey, and naturally all eyes will have been on the Ghana international.
And whilst the former Atletico man has already taken to Premier League football like a duck to water, earning himself a man of the match award in the win over Manchester United, Gabriel has arguably outshone him in these first few weeks of the season.
The Brazilian arrived from French side Lille for just £27m, far cheaper than Partey, and who had attracted interest from Sunday’s opponents United as well.
But since technical director Edu stepped in to ensure that the Gunners got their man, he has produced the goods in every single game that he has played.
Speaking after Arsenal’s win over Sheffield United, Mikel Arteta couldn’t help but hail the £65k-a-week earning monster. He said: “I am very impressed because I have always said in this league one of the most difficult positions to play is centre-back. You get challenged, exposed many times and tested many times for 96 minutes.
“I saw on the first day he has a lot of personality, he has big courage to play. He’s very secure, very stable as well mentally throughout the game and I think he has the physical and technical attributes to adapt very well to the league. That’s why we signed him but credit to him because in this short space of time that’s a big thing.”
And on Sunday, he produced arguably his finest performance of the season at Old Trafford. As per Sofascore, his 7.5 match rating was only lower than that of Partey, as he made a team-high of five tackles, registered four clearances and won an impressive seven of his 11 total duels too.
That led to Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp to insist that he’s the “real deal”. Whilst Partey may be the headline grabber for now, it’s Gabriel who continues to prove why he might be the most important signing of the summer.