Former Premier League striker Darren Bent cannot understand why Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is not playing Gabriel Magalhaes right now.
Gabriel Magalhaes has not started any of Arsenal‘s first three Premier League games this season and failed to make an appearance at all in his side’s last outing against Fulham.
Speaking about the central defender’s exclusion from the Gunners’ first XI on talkSPORT, Bent said: “The Gabriel situation doesn’t make sense, play him.
“Play [Oleksandr] Zinchenko, Gabriel, [William] Saliba, Ben White back at right-back.”
Arsenal’s backline did not have the best day out versus Fulham last weekend, conceding twice as Arteta’s men went on to draw 2-2 and drop points.
Having won their first two games of the new Premier League season, though, Arsenal have still made a good start to the campaign.
Mikel Arteta should put Gabriel Magalhaes back in his starting XI
It is not quite clear why Gabriel is being left out of Arsenal’s first XI. Last term, he formed quite a solid central defensive partnership with Saliba.
In total, the north London club conceded just 43 goals in the English top flight, with the £100,000-a-week (Capology) Brazilian playing his part.
Ultimately, when you consider how strong Arsenal were at the back with Gabriel in the side in the previous season, it makes sense for Arteta to eventually restore him to the starting XI.
Gabriel is too good to be sitting on the bench and he has been attracting interest from other clubs.
According to the Daily Mail, Real Madrid have looked at the former Lille man as they try to replace the injured Eder Militao.
If Gabriel cannot win his spot back in this Arsenal team, it would not be a surprise to see him leave the Emirates in January or next summer.
However, there is still plenty of time for him to do the above, with this season having just started.
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