Izuchukwu OkosiWith the September instalments of the international window over, reports in the English media has revealed that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta stopped influential defender Gabriel Magalhaes from being poached by some interested Saudi Arabian Pro League clubs.
Saudi Arabian super rich clubs have invested in their domestic league by signing some of the world’s best football talents much to the charging of less fortunate teams across Europe.
Under Mikel Arteta’s guidance, the Brazilian has formed a formidable defensive partnership with William Saliba, consistently delivering impressive performances whenever they graced the pitch together.
However, Gabriel was not regularly in the first team of the Gunners in August but was in the starting lineup when the north London side beat Premier League rivals, Manchester United 3-1 at the Emirates on September 3 before his trip to represent Brazil in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Gabriel was in imperious form in the early hours of Wednesday as the Samba boys made it two wins from two in 2026 World Cup qualifying after a late goal from Marquinhos earned them a 1-0 win over Peru in Lima.
With the game heading towards a scoreless draw, Paris St Germain defender Marquinhos who was painted with Gabriel in central defence, headed home Neymar’s corner at the near post to seal the win in the 90th minute.
Gabriel played for all 90 minutes, had 86 touches touches of the ball, completed 76 passes with six of them into the formal third.
Defensively, he made six recoveries, won six duels, a d delivered one long ball.
Brazil, which crushed Bolivia 5-1 at home on Friday, moved level on six points with rival Argentina at the top of the South American qualifying standings.
In that game against Bolivia, Gabriel was substituted off with ive minutes to full time with an injury scare as an ice park had to be applied on his knee.
The five-times world champions will host Venezuela before visiting Uruguay next month when the qualifying matches continue in South America.
In other qualifiers earlier on Tuesday, Argentina cruised past Bolivia 3-0, Venezuela beat 1-0 Paraguay, Uruguay lost 2-1 at Ecuador, while Chile and Colombia drew 0-0.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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