It’s no secret that before Gabriel Magalhães signed for Arsenal, he came close to moving to Everton, who were also interested in the Brazilian.
The defender was at Lille at the time, where he impressed enough for a number of clubs from Italy and England to take notice.
Everton were one of those, and the Toffees started the proceedings to buy the now 24-year-old, going as far as getting the player to undergo a medical ahead of the move.
In the end, however, the move never happened, and he stayed another half a season before Arsenal came in and beat everyone, handing Lille £23.4m in the process.
This has been confirmed by the Gunners’ player himself, who gave an interview on Instagram to Colin Dicanot (@colinterview), relayed by Le Petit Lillois.
He said: “Lille are a great club, a club that sells a lot so I knew I had to show myself. In the winter (of the 2019-2020 season) before the league stopped, I was already meant to sign for Everton. I underwent my medical, etc…
“But it didn’t get done. I had already envisioned myself leaving after that season. I spoke with Napoli, Everton once again, but I then chose Arsenal thanks to Nicolas Pépé, who sold the club well to me.”
So, it appears that the Emirates faithful have their winger, who had joined the Gunners from Lille the summer before, to thank for the signing of Gabriel.
As for Everton, why the original deal didn’t get done isn’t explained, but they are probably kicking themselves a little bit at having missed out on a player they could probably use nowadays.
