ESPN Brasil this week have an interview with Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães, and are releasing parts of it on their website.
One of the questions they asked him was which defenders he used to look up to when he was a child. However, that wasn’t actually his position when he first started playing.
“When I was little I didn’t play as a defender,” Gabriel Magalhães told ESPN Brasil. “I used to like to play as a striker, I liked to score goals.”
“So I grew up seeing great players like Ronaldinho Gaucho, among others. I liked to play up front and I started playing defence when I went to a football school. I was already 13 years old, the coach put me at left-back, then in defence. And I was like ‘hey, here?’.
“But then he said, I’m going to take you to Avaí for you to have a trial and you’re going to be a defender. So that’s how I went to Avaí, I took the trial as a defender and passed. From then on… But I already played as a defensive midfielder, as a left-back in the pros, so everything is fine.”
Asked if goalkeeper is the only position he hasn’t tried, he said “I don’t even want it”, laughing.
Now that he’s facing many stars in the Premier League, he was asked about the level of talent he’s up against.
“It is a great league, with the best players in the world. One defender I admired a lot and was able to play against was Van Dijk. Also playing against Manchester City was very… we lost the game, but I was able to learn too. When you play against big teams, you learn, you try to reap the best things you have done on the pitch.
“Then I was able to play against a player known worldwide, who is Aguero. Many defenders want to play against him to see what the style of play is like. And there are other players who we also intend to play against or even with them. As you said, I played against Mbappe, against Neymar. We learn every day, and every time we play against great players, we learn.”
Gabriel Magalhães signed a five-year contract with Arsenal following a €26m move from French side Lille this summer. He was quick at getting a starting spot in the Gunners’ line-up and already has seven appearances this season so far.
The rest of ESPN’s story should be focused on Arsenal’s match against Manchester United on Sunday, so we should soon see more quotes from the Brazilian regarding the upcoming clash with the Red Devils.
