29 August 2023 , 15:25
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Rio Ferdinand has revealed that Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes privately reached out to him last season after the Manchester United legend criticised the Brazil international.
Despite being an ever-present in the Gunners line-up since his arrival in the summer of 2020, Gabriel clearly still has some way to go before convincing Ferdinand. The former Red Devils regular-turned-pundit claimed that the Arsenal ace was the defender most likely to make a mistake out of those in the Emirates back-line.
Things haven't got off to a great start for Gabriel this season, with the 25-year-old starting all three of Arsenal's Premier League games so far from the substitutes bench. It is a decision from boss Mikel Arteta that has surprised many considering the former Lille talent hasn't made many glaring errors during his three years at the club.
Ferdinand doesn't seem quite as shocked at the recent developments and when it was put to him that perhaps Gabriel had been omitted from the Arsenal defence because he is the most likely to make an error, the ex-England international made the surprise claim regarding previous communications he has had with the Gunners star.
"I said that last year," he told his YouTube channel. "And he didn’t like it. He DM’d me. In the DM’s. This is a big thing, for me, with players today, they can’t take criticism.
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"Players today, not all of them, I have had quite a few players who have come through their agents. I have said ‘don’t you get your agent to speak to me. You get your player to come and chat to me and I will chat to him, no problem’.
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Gabriel Magalhaes is believed to have reached out to Rio Ferdinand last season (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC)"Yes, he (Gabriel) come direct to me, which I respect. But, at the same time, I don’t think he saw what I was saying."
Whether there is any weight to Ferdinand's suggestion that Gabriel is the most error-prone Arsenal defender is difficult to determine. The Brazilian has been one of the few players to survive Arteta's evolution of the Gunners squad and that is a testament to his quality.
However, with speculation regarding a potential switch to Saudi Arabia continuing to linger, Arteta's persistance when it comes to benching Gabriel this term is only adding further fuel to the fire, despite his own claims that it is purely a tactical call.
Asked if the transfer rumours were behind why Gabriel has lost his starting spot, the Arsenal boss explained: "It’s about the games that we were expecting, what I was expecting, how we wanted to defend and attack and our belief it was the best thing."