Normally when I whack Sky Sports News on in the kitchen at this time of the year, there’s a fair bit of rotation on what the presenters are talking about, in terms of the different teams. But yesterday when I flicked it on after a long day of work, Sky were going fairly heavy on reporting about Arsenal transfers.

  1. Kepa to Arsenal
  2. Sesko to Arsenal
  3. Rodrygo to Arsenal
  4. Gabriel new deal.

Sadly the first three weren’t really anything new, but I guess we can take comfort in the fact there appears to be plenty of movement happening as Arsenal start to get their ducks lined up for signings. Whether that happens before this first window shuts on Tuesday remains to be seen, but it doesn’t really impact us I suspect, as the club will carry on with deals regardless of this window closing. They’ll just delay formal announcements until the window reopens, that’s all. Although I suspect the Rodrygo one will be one Arsenal have to have patience on this summer.

One bit of good news that was confirmed yesterday was the confirmation that big Gabby has signed a new deal that will take him to 2029 with The Arsenal. I don’t know the details but I’d be shocked if it doesn’t have a ‘plus one’ added on to the end and if he see’s out that contract, he’ll have been at the club for 10 years and will have certainly have become one of the greats at The Arsenal.

He’s already established himself as one of the best defenders in the Premier League arguably the world and his comments after the club made the announcement warmed the cockles of me ‘eart, I tells ya. He did the usual soundbites you’d expect, then also talking about the next step, which is about getting over the line with trophies. I think this signing is an important early statement to make by the club too; signings are great, but contracts like this one show that we have players within the squad who want to be signed up for the long term. Gabriel is showing that he believes that he can win things with The Arsenal and you only have to look at the videos of him celebrating when we beat Madrid to show that he and his family are massively invested.

I wonder what this does for other players whose future we still need to sort out? Does it help the likes of Saliba and Saka to pen new deals, as they see that another player is bought in to “the project”? I think it probably helps. Of course there will be negotiations, of course we will need to make sure we make each player feel independently valued, but this deal can serve as notice that Arsenal are committed to keeping their current crop together and my hope is that Gabriel’s signing is the domino effect of more deals getting announced.

As for the player himself, we’re getting another five years of a rock at the back. Big Gabi is one of those guys who loves a tackle, he lives for those big blocks, but he’s also a massive threat in the air. I read something yesterday which said that I think he’s only six goals off equalling Laurent Koscielny’s record of 23 from a centre half. He got three last season in the Premier League, four the season before that and three the season before that. So if he’s with us for the duration of his contract, on trend, he’s bound to beat that target of 23.

We could see it ourselves when he went off injured against Fulham too – he’s a big threat from set pieces. Yeah, he only scored three in the Premier League (although he did get five in all competitions) this season, but teams know that he’s a threat and as a result he gets special attention. That means that other players are perhaps not focused on as much and so big Gabi does just as much threat and damage when he’s nowhere near the ball in the box, as he does when he’s getting on the end of headers.

But it’s at the back in which he delivers the most value and whilst Kiwior was superb whilst big Gabi was injured and I want him to stick around next season, you can tell that Gabriel was missing. Saliba had one or two iffy moments towards the end of the season – would that have happened if Big Gabi was there? Maybe, but I like to think having him there gives a calming influence to the rest of the team. He is solid as you like and when he’s playing we are a better team. He’s good with the ball at his feet too. His passing range is varied and whilst Saliba catches the eye because of his strength on the ball and ability to weave in and out of tight spaces as a centre half, Gabriel is the guy who can often be found playing those longer, straighter, ground balls to our front three of the two. I for one am delighted he’s signed on and it’s the first bit of good news this summer that we can all cheer about. Let’s hope we start getting regular good news with contracts and signings this summer now.

Until then though, we’ll just have to continue to be patient, although as I sign off let’s also lament the departure of ‘Big Ange’. He gave us so much entertainment as manager of The Scum and the fact he’s going is a real shame. It would have been hilarious to see how ‘season three’ turned out, but sadly, it’s not to be. Let’s just hope they don’t go out and get somebody half decent because I thoroughly enjoyed watching them implode in the Premier League this season just gone.

Catch you all tomorrow.