What A Wasteful Signing!!
Arsenal defender Gabrel Paulista left the Emirates and moved to La Liga side Valencia. The center-back was in Spain to agree terms, before joining the club after spending two rather underwhelming seasons at Arsenal. Paulista fell down the pecking order when Shkodran Mustafi joined the Gunners last season and was severely affected by the growth of 21 year old Rob Holding. With Arsene Wenger claiming that Holding is a future success who will be a regular starter in the years to come. And with Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker at his disposal, Wenger may not require Paulista at the Emirates.
The Brazilian defender joined the Gunners in January 2015 for a transfer fee of £11.5m from Villarreal and has made 46 appearances for the club in the Premier League. He was instrumental for the Arsenal side that won the FA Cup in 2015 and 2017 although he did not take part in the Finals of each of the tournaments and he also failed to make a big impact at the north-London club as he struggled to settle into the Premier League.
Paulista has been involved with Diego Costa in a famous spat where Arsenal lost a Premier League game against local rivals Chelsea where Gabriel was sent off after tussling with striker Costa.
Valencia finished 12th in the table last season in the La Liga and are looking for a solid center-back for their unorganized defense. The Spanish club are looking to seal the deal with Arsenal with a fee of £10m for the defender.
26 year old Gabriel hasn’t made much of an impact at Arsenal and should go elsewhere to gain regular football, also any sort of fee that is received by the Gunners could be used in the pursuit of AS Monaco forward Thomas Lemar.
The Age-Long Problem That Has Haunted Wenger-
Another title gone, as Manchester City lifted the League Cup with an emphatic 3-0 win over the Gunners. Arsene Wenger’s side looked weak against the Citizens at Wembley, as they failed to make an impact in this match. Their defence had always been a point weak point and they conceded thrice in this fixture, while they failed to score a single goal in the entire 90 minutes.
Yet again, it exposed Arsene Wenger’s side’s weakness and the fact that they really need to change things around, if they wish to compete with the best of Europe. They are still not good enough to be a top side and the French manager will have realized that last evening, as he saw his team get destroyed by Pep Guardiola’s men.
If the north London giants really wish to get back to showcasing the kind of form that they used to have a decade ago, it is high time that they change their ways and start bringing in some top quality defenders.
Wenger’s choice off late for his defensive targets has not really been good and his team have suffered in the process.
A world-class keeper like Petr Cech has been made to look like a fool on several occasions and it is high time that things chance now.
