Arsenal column: GENUINE interest in £100m star, latest on Alexander Isak links, & more | OneFootball

Gabriel transfer interest is genuine, but he should cost at least £100m

The interest from Saudi Arabia in Gabriel Magalhaes is nothing new, it dates back a couple of years now.

In the summer of 2023 there were fears at Arsenal that Gabriel’s head had been turned by the money that was on offer, which was why he was left out of the team in those early games that season.

Mikel Arteta publicly said it was tactical, but it wasn’t. It was because of what was going on behind the scenes with the interest from Saudi.

Arsenal did not want to lose him and ultimately Gabriel stayed put, with Arteta swiftly restoring him to his starting XI once the situation was put to bed.

Since then Gabriel has obviously gone to form what, in my opinion, is the best centre-back partnership in the Premier League and possibly even the world with William Saliba.

So the last thing Arsenal would want this summer is a repeat of what happened in 2023, but it would be no surprise if the interest from Saudi did result in a firm offer, although at this stage it is a bit too early to suggest it definitely will.

Obviously every player has a price, so I can’t sit here and say Arsenal should not even contemplate a sale should a bid arrive, but it would have to be huge to tempt them into doing business – over £100m in my opinion.

Gabriel is so important to this team at both ends of the pitch. He’s comfortably my Arsenal player of the season and along with Saliba he is the bedrock that the side is built on.

There are going to be changes in the defensive midfield come the summer which the team is going to have to adapt to next season, so you don’t want to have changes at centre-back as well.

So for me the important thing is getting Gabriel tied down to a new contract because he absolutely deserves one.

He was the first player to really sign a new deal when Arsenal did their last round of renewals and I would imagine his wages are currently a bit below that of Saliba, who signed his extension a year later.

So he clearly warrants a new deal, one that reflects his stature in this team. He’s proven he is one of the best centre-backs in the world and he should be paid as such.

Gabriel Magalhaes reacts during Arsenal’s win over Chelsea (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

He’s in a strong position when it comes to contract talks. Early discussions started last year and have yet to reach a conclusion, so that’s something new sporting director Andrea Berta will need to focus on once he starts his new role.

The interest from Saudi will no doubt complicate things a bit, but I hope Arsenal will see it off and convince Gabriel that his future remains in North London.

Mikel Arteta admires Alexander Isak greatly, but I still can’t see it happening

The Alexander Isak talk is not going to go away.

Every time he does something good, the speculation over a move to Arsenal will resurface – as it has since Sunday’s fabulous win for Newcastle at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final.

We know Arsenal would like to sign Isak and we know Mikel Arteta admires him greatly. Should an opportunity to get him this summer then I’m sure the club would push the boat out to try and get it done.

But I just don’t see it happening.

There is a suggestion that if Newcastle miss out on a Champions League spot then the door might open a little bit in terms of the possibility of them cashing in on Isak, but even then I would consider it extremely unlikely.

I’m sure they would look to sell several other players first before they would consider an offer for Isak, especially from a domestic rival.

They just don’t need to sell him. He’s got a long-term contract and even if he states that he doesn’t want to discuss an extension, there is no need for them to let him go this summer.

It would take a monumental offer to tempt them into doing business for their prized asset and I just can’t see Arsenal getting to a figure that would make Newcastle consider it

I’ve said it before and I still think that Benjamin Sesko is the far more likely option when it comes to a new striker coming in this summer.

The club have done a lot of the groundwork when it comes to the Slovenia international and RB Leipzig will be open to doing business at the end of the season, unlike Newcastle.

Myles Lewis-Skelly fully deserves his England call-up, but what’s next for him?

It’s great to see Myles Lewis-Skelly called up for England duty. It’s absolutely deserved.

Ideally, I think Thomas Tuchel would have probably preferred to let him have at least one camp with the Under-21s first, but with other left-back options unavailable he had to include him now really.

As I said, it’s a deserved call-up. Lewis-Skelly has been exceptional since coming into the first-team set-up at Arsenal this season.

Nothing fazes him and I’m sure this won’t either, even with the extra scrutiny that comes with being called up by England.

The way he has taken to senior football this season, both in the Premier League and in the Champions League has been so impressive, especially when you factor in that he is playing in a position that is still relatively new to him.

It wasn’t long ago that he was known as a central midfielder, a box to box player who could pop up with important moments at either end of the pitch.

So the fact he has made himself one of the best left-backs in the country in a short space of time at the age of just 18 shows how intelligent a footballer he is.

There is a view that at some point he will move further up the pitch and back into a midfield role, but I don’t really see that happening I have to say, not in the short term anyway.

I think he suits that inverted left-back role so well and that allows him to operate in central areas a lot of the time anyway. So I don’t really see the point of moving him back into midfield right now.

Arsenal rated Mika Biereth highly and we’re starting to see why – but this is why they let him go

Fair play to Mika Biereth. It’s great to see him doing so well at Monaco.

You expect to see his name on the scoresheet every time they play at the moment, given how prolific he has been since his move from Stern Graz in January.

It’s easy to look at it and say that Arsenal will regret letting him go, especially as he is scoring so many at a time when the club are having to operate without a central striker.

But I don’t think Arsenal will see it that way. They will be happy to see him doing so well.

Maybe in hindsight they will think they should have held out and not sold him for just £4m to Sturm Graz in the first place, but he had made it clear at that point that he was not going to sign a new contract so they weren’t in a great position to negotiate.

I know they were quite happy with the deal they got at the time with Sturm Graz and also the sell-on fee they agreed, one that has seen them pocket an extra couple of million from his onward move to Monaco.

Arsenal liked Biereth when he was at the club. They knew he was a good goalscorer but there were doubts over whether he would be good enough to be the main man at the club, which is something he absolutely wants to be at any club that he plays for.

So I think it was a good move for all parties that he went out and got on with his career. It’s one that is certainly paying off for him so far and long may that continue.