Gabriel Magalhães had to travel almost 500 miles before facing the tribunal that would change his life. Due to financial constraints, Avaí FC had to make a decision swiftly in order to spend more than a few days in Florianópolis. Gabriel convinced the team that he was their new center back after just one session. Nevertheless, he was only with the team for one week during his first stint, despite his obvious promise. Feeling lonesome in the south of Brazil, Gabriel quickly returned to São Paulo to be with his family.

He was fifteen, a heavy cryer, and found it difficult to blend in with his colleagues. However, this was his chance to guarantee the financial security of his family. After speaking with his father, Gabriel informed Diogo Fernandes, the current coach at Avaí, that he would like to return. Diogo agreed.

He says, “We knew this could happen because the first problem a football player faces is being away from home.” We also knew that Avaí would be among the exclusive groups that would welcome Gabriel. Tall and thin, he was a left-footer who found it difficult to head the ball and tended to be a touch soft in confrontations. But in the end, we were right—he was a fantastic player, and when he was moved to Lille in 2017, it was the largest transfer in Avaí history.

Gabriel was vying for a spot on the youth team with his twin brothers. Gabriel had never attended an academy before, yet he prevailed. His first coach at Avaí, Niltinho Costa, recalls seeing him play in the rain on a synthetic field during his trial.

Niltinho immediately saw his talent and work ethic. We had to give up one of our two left-footers in order to make room for Gabriel to play for us. After seeing him play, I said to myself, “Man, this guy can be a professional when he turns 18.” He was also a wonderful man, or, as we say in Brazil, “um amor de pessoa” [a sweetness]. I used to talk to him a lot when I supported him on the pitch and comforted him while he was missing home. The only problem was that he was born in December, so he was almost a year younger than some of the other kids and took longer to physically mature.

Antony of Ajax celebrates scoring his teams fifth goal of the game during the pre-season friendly match between Ajax Amsterdam and RKC Waalwijk at Johan Cruijff Arena on August 08, 2020 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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Gabriel was shy and continued to miss his family, but the boys at the club and the help of a psychologist made him feel at home. But as a thin player, he needed to gain weight and learn how to fix his weaknesses. Diogo recalls, “There is a funny story about his career.” “Marcão, who is now at Galatasaray, was the first choice in their position and Gabriel was on the bench. However, we learned that Marcão was skipping class and we couldn’t accept that at Avaí, so we had to drop him. His father didn’t take that well and Marcão didn’t come to the club for three months as a result. Gabriel then became the first choice. His chance came against Flamengo in a Copa do Brasil match. From then on he began succeeding even more.”

Just like Marcão, Gabriel was not fond of class. Diogo says he was a malandro – a rascal. “If his football career doesn’t turn out well, he’ll have to rely on his studies,” Diogo thought. So the club contacted Gabriel’s family and tried to find a relative who had finished their studies to highlight the importance of going to school.

His godmother travelled down to Santa Catarina to drill some sense into the boy. “It was a very rough moment,” laughs Diogo. “She came and we talked to him, explaining all the benefits he would gain by going to school. He needed it because, after that, something snapped in his mind and he changed. Gabriel was very well mannered so, every time we had to talk to him seriously, it was easy.”

He’s the type of player who cries if the team loses. This kind of feeling is very important.

Flávio Albano

Gabriel kept improving on the pitch, although he had to toughen up. “There was no chance of being a good defender if he was soft or if someone even thought he was soft,” says Niltinho. “I told him: ‘Gabriel, you have to be more physical. You have to get close to these guys and you cannot let them pass you.’”

Just as he was settling, tragedy struck back home. A close childhood friend, who was like a brother to him, was killed in a car accident. Gabriel thought about giving up again, but Niltinho kept encouraging him. “I went to another club at the end of that year, but I kept in touch with him. He was in his second year at Avaí when it happened. I suppose [talking to him] helped him a lot, because we had some good chats. Gabriel was a very family-oriented boy, and still is, and this kind of thing messes with your head. I even tried to bring him to Palmeiras, but Gabriel chose to stay with Avaí.”

Gabriel’s loyalty towards Avaí is something to bear in mind, insists Flávio Albano, who is in charge of the club’s youth teams. “It’s always good to have a player that honours the outfit he plays for, as Gabriel did,” says Albano, a great player in his own day at Grêmio and Fluminense. “He’s the type of player who cries if the team loses. This kind of feeling is very important and we are seeing it even less in football these days. I just wish he had stayed with us longer, but we understand that players are leaving Brazil very early these days. It’s a tendency now at every club.”

Despite his youth, Gabriel captained Avaí at times before signing for Lille in January 2017. He had just celebrated his 19th birthday and Lille manager Marcelo Bielsa did not think he was ready for the first team, deciding instead to send him on loan to fellow Ligue 1 side Troyes and then Dinamo Zagreb. Bielsa took the club into the relegation zone, was quickly sacked and replaced by Christophe Galtier.

Gabriel returned to Lille in 2018 and established a solid partnership with José Fonte, the former Crystal Palace, Southampton and West Ham centre-back. Galtier was suitably impressed, saying: “I saw he had great potential and he was able to seize the first opportunity he got. He was hungry to play, and while he bided his time, he worked a lot. He’s an example for other youngsters to follow. It’s a sort of intelligence to behave like that. How often nowadays do you see players not working if they’re not in the squad?”

Lille held on to Gabriel for as long as they could but, when Arsenal offered £27m in September, they relented. Arsenal have started the season poorly but Gabriel has continued to impress, winning the club’s player of the month award in September and October, and scoring against Fulham and Wolves in the league.

For anyone who saw him play in Brazil, this success has not been a surprise. “He was not built by talent, but by his will to improve his shortcomings and learn that he could surpass any difficulties life throws at him. We knew he could be a top player from the start. A lot of Brazilian clubs wanted Gabriel, but his place in the spotlight was destined to be in Europe,” concludes Diogo Fernandes.