Ben White has admitted that playing alongside Gabriel Magalhaes at Arsenal is easier than he first thought it was going to be.
White joined Arsenal in a £50 million deal this past summer.
And alongside Gabriel in central defence, the Gunners duo seem to have struck up a solid partnership with one another.
Thing is, the Brazilian powerhouse isn’t a dynamo when it comes to the English language and with White admitting that his Portuguese is non-existent, there was the potential for problems.
But asked by an Arsenal Q & A on the club’s official Twitch channel, White said: “Obviously he doesn’t speak much English and I don’t speak much Portuguese. But it’s been easier than I thought. There’s not too much we have to say. We kind of click and get what each other are going to do.”
Different but the same
The Arsenal duo have different mother tongues but the same heart.
Both White and Gabriel are full-blooded, courageous and ball-playing central defenders and it’s clear that the duo compliment each other so very well, in spite of the fact they’re unable to communicate with one another.
Gabriel, a £27 million signing in 2020, only has one season of English football under his belt but he is taking to it like a duck to water and it’ll be fascinating to see how much better he can become.
Arsenal’s main problem under Mikel Arteta has been scoring goals, not conceding them.
And if the boys at the opposite end of the field to Gabriel and White can do their jobs just as well then the North Londoners could still have a brilliant season, irrespective of a shocking start.
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