Comparing Gabriel Magalhaes' numbers to Arsenal centre backs

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Bengaluru, August 31: Lille defender Gabriel Magalhaes has been heavily linked with a move to Arsenal with Mikel Arteta eager to strengthen his backline. The rumour is that the player has agreed on personal terms with the North London club and only a few final touches are left to conclude the deal.

Arsenal were a shambles at the back last campaign with senior defenders like David Luiz, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi nowhere near the level needed for a top side. Although under the guidance of Arteta their defensive unit has improved. But definitely the Spanish tactician would look to re-build the team ahead of next season with some new names.

William Saliba could be one of the defenders to cement a place in the starting line-up after he completed his loan spell and now Gabriel could be another one to play a big role next season alongside the young French defender.

But how is he compared to all the Arsenal defenders? Here we take a look at his numbers from last season compared to all the other Arsenal centre-halves:

(We’ve compared Gabriel’s 2019-20 Ligue 1 stats to the respective league figures of Luiz, Mustafi, Sokratis, Calum Chambers and William Saliba. Pablo Mari and Rob Holding are excluded as they played just twice and thrice respectively).

Defence

Gabriel is quite good with his tackling ability and in fact is the most successful in comparison to Arsenal defenders last season. He completed 85.7% of his attempted tackles, while Chambers takes second place, completing 84%, followed by Saliba (77.3%), Mustafi and Luiz (76.9%) and Sokratis with the lowest figure at 68.4%.

Gabriel's interception rate, however, is worst among the lot. The Brazilian only made (0.9) interception last season in Ligue 1 while Saliba has the best interception per 90 minutes than any other Arsenal player. He averages 1.9 interceptions per 90 minutes in Ligue 1 which is better than every Arsenal defender with Chambers (1.3), Mustafi (1.2), Luiz (1) and Sokratis (0.9) all behind him.

However, in terms of aerial balls won, he was great. He won 65.4% of his aerial battles last season that was bettered only by Mustafi (77.8%) and Sokratis (67.4%) while the rest were behind Gabriel with Saliba (61.4%), Chambers (54.5%) and Luiz (51.6%).

Attack

As Arteta prefers defenders with ball-playing ability, Gabriel will have to work hard to adapt to the new system. His passing (82.2%) is the second-lowest of the six players in comparison. Saliba has a 88% passing success, close to Sokratis who had 87.9%. Luiz had 84.9% pass success per 90 minutes, while Mustafi had 85.7% and Chambers worst with 76.7%.

Gabriel, however, managed to get into the scoresheet last season which only Saliba failed to stamp. Saliba did not register a single goal or assist in the Ligue 1 while all the Arsenal defenders found the back of the net. Luiz registered two goals and one assist, Sokratis two goals, Chambers one goal and one assist, and Mustafi only one assist.

Now only time will tell that if Gabriel can be crucial in the forthcoming season. But looking at stats it's quite clear, the Gunners will have a better defender in their ranks than the current ones, if they land him this summer.