Arsenal have reportedly increased their offer for Lille defender Gabriel Magalhaes, while they are seemingly ahead of Man Utd in the transfer battle.
The Gunners conceded 48 goals in their 38 Premier League games last season, giving them the second worst defensive record of the top nine sides in the standings.
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In turn, that is clearly an area in which they can improve and it appears as though Mikel Arteta could be handed a boost in his bid to shore things up in that department.
As per Fabrizio Romano’s tweet below, Arsenal have increased their offer for Gabriel, and while Napoli have yet to make their move as they sort out Kalidou Koulibaly’s future first, Man Utd have not yet made contact with Lille as it’s suggested that they’re interested too.
That puts the Gunners in a strong position in the race to sign the 22-year-old, and it’s added that the hierarchy are now feeling ‘confident’ that they will be able to sign the Brazilian.
Arsenal have increased their bid to Gabriel Magalhães tonight. They’re pushing to convince him because of Napoli still waiting for Koulibaly situation and Man Utd not in contact with Lille yet. Arsenal board is feeling now “confident” to sign the Brazilian CB. ??? #Gabriel #AFC
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 21, 2020
Gabriel has impressed for the Ligue 1 outfit as he’s now made 52 appearances for the club and given the calibre of the clubs said to be interested in him, that says a lot in itself about the quality that he possesses.
With William Saliba returning from his loan spell away from the Emirates last season, should Arsenal land the signing of Gabriel too, that could give them a new long-term partnership in the heart of their defence, while they still have the experience and quality of the likes of David Luiz and Sokratis to call upon if they stay.
Having lifted the FA Cup last season, Arteta will be desperate to build on that and by bringing in new faces to improve the quality of the squad with Willian having already signed this summer, he’ll hope to add the right players to make Arsenal more competitive moving forward.