Arsenal defender Gabriel Paulista has revealed that he realised early in his career that he was best suited to playing in defence rather than playing in attacking positions.
Gabriel arrived at the Emirates Stadium from Villarreal in the winter transfer window earlier this year and he has been slowly finding his spot in the Gunners’ defence. The centre-back has appeared five times in all competitions for Arsene Wenger’s side thus far.
The 24-year-old’s convincing displays have earned him a spot in Dunga’s Brazilian national team for the first time in his career – he was on the bench for last night's clash against France and may make his Selecao debut when they play Chile in a friendly on Sunday.
The Brazilian has revealed that he realised in his early days of playing football that he is cut out to be a defender rather than an attacking player.
“When we are little, we always want to be on the attack, but I realised that it wouldn’t work, so I kept going backwards and backwards”, Gabriel told the Arsenal Magazine.
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“The only thing I didn’t try was being a goalkeeper. I stopped there.
“So I started to play in defence and I started to do well, I started to enjoy it. I made my decision, I thought: 'This it is! I’m not leaving here'.
"I began enjoying it and I started to want to defend, to fight not to let them in, not to let the other team score goals.
“I always have that in my head – to want to defend, and defend well”, he concluded.
Gabriel’s arrival at Arsenal has bolstered their defence and after collecting 60 points from their 30 games, which has put them third in the table, the Gunners appear on course for a top four finish.
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