Valencia Announce The Signing Of Arsenal Defender Gabriel

By The Editor
on 19th August 2017

Gabriel agrees a deal to join Valencia…

? @gpaulista5 and @JeisonMurillo19, presented as new VCF players
Check out what they said at their press conference
?https://t.co/uOevrx9wBm pic.twitter.com/nW2pFS1CSV

— Valencia CF English (@valenciacf_en) August 19, 2017

Valencia have announced the signing of Arsenal defender Gabriel after they agreed a reported £10million deal to take the Brazilian back to Spain.

Gabriel arrived from Villarreal in January 2015, in a period in which we were suffering from a crisis at centre-back due to Arsene Wenger’s failure to address that area the summer before.

We went into the campaign with two recognised central defenders in Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker, and the former was suffering from a chronic achilles issue.

The boss then addressed the issue midseason and although Gabriel provided decent cover, it quickly became clear that he didn’t have the quality or power to help us move forward.

He had a few top-class performances, not least in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City last season, but those moments were few and far between.

However, Gabriel leaves the club with two FA Cup medals and a few Community Shields to boot.

It now remains to be seen if Wenger valued Gabriel’s contribution enough to search for a replacement before the window closes at the end of the month.

Check out the video above as the 26-year-old was presented in front of the Spanish press as he makes a return to La Liga.