Gabriel Magalhaes hasn’t even walked through the door at the Emirates Stadium yet.
The 22-year-old is expected to be announced as an Arsenal player very soon having completed a medical ahead of a £25million move from Ligue 1 side, Lille.
However, the arrival of the left-footed centre-back could soon be compared to a very similar player in terms of profile. Manchester United, who were initially also keen on the Brazilian, have been forced to look elsewhere and reportedly had a £22million bid for Benoit Badiashile rejected as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side also look to find a left-footed central defender ahead of the 2020/21 campaign.
The comparisons don’t stop there, though, with both defenders boasting experience in Ligue 1 from a young age.
Gabriel, 22, is three years older than a 19-year-old Badiashile but both defenders have only registered meaningful minutes in Ligue 1 since the beginning of the 2018/19 campaign. Such a similar sample of time on the pitch can, therefore, tell us more about the potential signings and maybe suggest who is getting the better deal.
So, how do they compare by numbers since the start of the 2018/19 campaign?
While we get on to more technical and progressive attributes later, it is worth starting with defensive output. Defending in a possession-based team often requires different strengths which will be explained below with regard to defensive metrics.
In terms of defensive abilities, both defenders rank more or less identically across the 55 matches they have played respectively.
Badiashile registers marginally more interceptions per 90 minutes at 5.45 with Gabriel totting up 5.27 but the soon to be Arsenal defender performs better in terms of percentage of aerial duels won at 67.49% compared to 64.29% .
What those aerial numbers, in particular, show is that both defenders possess a strong presence in the air. That proves important for sides who look to assert their dominance on the game and prevent any vulnerabilities to a long ball towards their defensive line.
Given the ambitions of both Arsenal and United to become contenders in the Premier League again, defensive assurance will likely be key to ensuring that. Based on their respective appearances in Ligue 1, Gabriel and Badiashile present good options at the back with a view to further development in the coming seasons.
From a statistical point of view, Gabriel proves superior to Badiashile when looking at his influence when in possession. The 22-year-old’s experience in playing out from the back in both a progressive and technical manner will be one of the main reasons that Mikel Arteta is so keen to work with the Brazilian.
His 8.43 passes to the final third per 90 minutes is significantly higher than Badiashile’s 6.63 but it is also important to note that the Brazilian produces 10.11 progressive passes per 90 minutes. A progressive pass - by definition - is usually registered when a player passes the ball at least 30 meters closer to the opponent’s goal when starting from their own half.
As a result of Gabriel ranking highly in that metric, we can conclude that he regularly looks to find his teammates further up the pitch and, therefore, progress the ball more than the average centre back.
Despite Badiashile ( 74.17% ) ranking better than Gabriel ( 66.01% ) in terms of accuracy of passes to the final third, Arsenal’s added element of attacking options could help Gabriel improve his overall success in finding players further forward.
In truth, there is little to separate the two central defenders who look to be on their way to the Emirates Stadium and Old Trafford respectively.
They have played an identical number of games, register similar defensive output and appear to have similar ceilings in terms of overall development opportunity.
Where Arsenal may feel they have the better deal is in Gabriel’s ability to progress the ball forwards at a more frequent rate and that, in the mind of Arteta, will be something that he’s keen to implement into his system.
Stats via Wyscout
