Arsenal reportedly drew up a list of targets in the event that Gabriel Magalhaes left the club last summer.
Gabriel Magalhaes has enjoyed an excellent campaign at Arsenal, forming a brilliant partnership with William Saliba.
The Gunners kept 18 clean sheets this season – the most in the Premier League. Mikel Arteta’s men also conceded just 29 goals in 38 games – the fewest in the league.
But Gabriel found himself amongst the substitutes for the first three games of the season.
The Brazilian defender was receiving interest from the Saudi Pro League at the time and Arteta insisted his decision to drop Gabriel was tactical.
Now, The Athletic has claimed that Arsenal had drawn up a list of potential replacements for the centre-back.
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Arsenal could have moved for Marc Guehi
The outlet claims that despite Arteta’s claims that Gabriel’s omission was tactical, Arsenal had been eyeing possible replacements for the defender.
A bid from the Saudi Pro League was anticipated by people behind the scenes at Arsenal, which led to the club drawing up a list of centre-back targets.
The list included the likes of Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi and former Manchester City star Aymeric Laporte.
However, City had no intention of selling Laporte to Arsenal after also strengthening them with Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus.
The Frenchman completed a switch to Saudi and joined Al Nassr while Gabriel came back into Arteta’s side just a couple of days after the window shut.
Gabriel exit would have been huge blow to Arsenal
While Guehi is an extremely talented centre-back, Arsenal seem to have their defensive partnership sorted for the foreseeable future.
Gabriel and Saliba have struck up an excellent partnership and it’s difficult to see Arteta needing another top-quality option in the position.
Of course, the Gunners will need to add depth at centre-back but Ben White and Jakub Kiwior are both natural central defenders.
It will be intriguing to see what happens with Guehi this summer and should Arsenal decide to strengthen their backline, the £60 million man would provide real quality depth.