Arsenal defender Gabriel signs new long-term deal as Arteta praises 'chemistry' with Saliba

Arsenal have confirmed Gabriel Magalhaes has signed a new long-term contract and Mikel Arteta has praised the in-form defender.

PA News Agency understands the centre-back has agreed to a long-term contract extension after holding talks with his agent and the Arsenal hierarchy on Friday.

The Gunners spent an estimated £27m to sign the 24-year-old from Lille in 2020. He has already featured 83 times for the Premier League side.

Serie A giants Juventus were linked with Gabriel this summer, but they couldn't talk him out of Arsenal.

He has been consistently present in the Premier League this season with Arsenal leading the table with nine wins from 10 games.

Only Newcastle have conceded less than the 10 goals scored by Mikel Arteta's side this season as Gabriel continues to build an impressive deal with William Saliba at the heart of defence.

"I think when we look at a centre-back, we look at partnerships," Arteta said when asked about Gabriel's performance.

"I think Gabby has made William a better player and I think Willy is helping Gabby be the same - there's a strong chemistry there, you can feel it and the way they communicate with each other and play for each other, it's really positive and what you want.

"A winning team has to have an extremely cohesive backbone and play at a very high level, keep clean sheets and we often do that."

The contract is the first in what Arsenal hope will be a long line of players committing their future to the club.

Bukayo Saka said last month he shared Arteta's hopes of agreeing a new deal soon, with Gabriel Martinelli and Saliba also linked to new contracts.

Arteta recently admitted that he had concerns about his relationship with Saliba during the first days of his term.

"I was worried at many times because it was really tricky the way the relationship was at the beginning.

"We bought him, we sent him out on loan first because that was part of the deal. He came back, we didn't think he was ready and we sent him back on loan. ready.

"A player of that potential who already had that recognition away from home...how was that going to affect our relationship?

"But we believed in it and I was convinced that this period would benefit him much more than staying here. And the moment I saw things that gave me signals of what he could do , we had no doubt that he was a player for us.

"He was really humble and determined to say, 'OK, I can put that aside, I get it'. Now he's starting to perform here and he's been outstanding."

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