Morning.
There’s only one place to start this morning and that’s the news from yesterday that Gabriel Magalhaes signed a new deal with the club. This one runs until 2029, at which point he’ll be 31 years of age, and seeing out his 9th season at Arsenal (if he stays for the full duration).
Speaking the official site, the Brazilian said:
It’s an amazing club and I’m so proud to sign a new contract. I love this club, I love the fans, my teammates, I love this stadium – I’m so proud and thank you for all the support.
We’ve done a lot of good things, and now it’s time to win some trophies. I want to say thank you for everything. I love the fans, and I love how they push the team. I think they are so incredible to keep pushing us every single game. We continue together for the future.
Which, if you want to zoom out a bit, tells you that one of our best players, biggest characters, and most natural on-pitch leaders believes he can achieve things at Arsenal. There have been a lot of questions about the lack of silverware, and those are understandable, but a good sign that the players themselves still have faith in the ‘project’ – for want of a better word – is their commitment to signing a new contract and being part of the team for years to come.
As for the nuts and bolts of it, there’s no question in my mind this is 100% deserved. When we did the last round of renewals, Gabriel was one of the first to put pen to paper, and while he wasn’t exactly left in the poor house, he was left behind a little in terms of salary by the time players like William Saliba and Bukayo Saka signed their contracts.
Arsenal will never release salary details, but I would imagine he is well and truly up there now with the biggest earners, and it’s right that he should be. If you’re a first name on the team sheet player, you should be in the same bracket as those players. Whether this new deal is ‘index linked’ to any potential salary upgrades awarded to others I can’t say, but I have a strong suspicion that financial parity with his peers in the team would have been part of the discussions. As it should be.
And ultimately we have re-signed a player that any club in the world would take off our hands in a heartbeat. His partnership with Saliba is outstanding, and will more than likely form the bedrock for any successes this team has. I think it also sends a message to those teammates whose contracts the club also want to renew this summer. If Gabriel is staying, then this is the place to be, and hopefully the knock-on effect of that is a real willingness on the part of those players to follow suit.
All in all, great news.
Meanwhile, as the search for a number 2 goalkeeper next season continues, it seems the focus is on Chelsea’s Kepa Arrizabalaga (another addition to Mikel Arteta’s increasing Basque army). He spent last season on loan at Bournemouth, and did pretty well there, but there’s a £5m release clause this summer which – if you’re a team looking for a decent, experienced back-up goalkeeper – makes a whole lot of sense.
I think Arsenal got quite lucky last season with David Raya’s fitness, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there were times he had to play through something when ordinarily you might ask your deputy to step up. What’s clear is that by the end of the season, Raya’s standards dropped a little, and I think the mental fatigue of playing 55 games caught up with him a bit because the manager didn’t feel like we had a credible alternative.
We absolutely need someone to share some of the burden, and at 30, with plenty of Premier League experience under his belt, and a fee which is basically nothing in this day and age, it’s a very solid solution to a problem we have to solve this summer. Last summer, we were not at all decisive about the goalkeeping situation, and the result was scrabbling around on deadline day for anyone at all. That’s not good enough, and we don’t need to do that again. So, while some people might look askance at another Chelsea player, I’ve got no real issue with this, and sorting it out sooner rather than later allows us to concentrate on more important business.
Finally for today, the club have announced Jorginho’s official departure from the club, as he joins Flamengo in time for the pitiful Club World Cup that FIFA can’t sell tickets for because nobody really cares about the ghoulish Gianni Infantino’s ego-trip tournament. Good luck to him in Brazil!
Right, that’s your lot for this morning. Have a great Saturday folks.
