OFFICIAL: Arsenal Confirms The Signing Of Gabriel Megalhaes From Lille.

Arsenal have on Tuesday confirmed the signing of centre-back Gabriel Megalhaes from French side Lille in a deal worth around £27 million.

The 22-year-old Brazilian signed a five-year contract with the Gunners, which will keep him at the Emirates stadium until June 2025, and will wear the number 6 shirt for the club.

Gabriel will have to self-isolate for 14 days following his arrival from France, a country which is currently on the UK Government's quarantine list, before being able to link up with his new team-mates.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta expressed his delight via the club's website over the arrival Gabriel Megalhaes, as he will be a major boost to his squad for the upcoming season;

“We happily welcome Gabriel to Arsenal... said the Spaniard.

"He has many qualities which will make us stronger as a defensive unit and as a team. 

"He has proved with Lille that he is a defender with many outstanding attributes and we are looking forward to watching him grow as an Arsenal player.”

This will be Arteta's second signing of the summe, after Willian joined the team from Chelsea weeks ago.

🇧🇷 Welcome to The Arsenal, @biel_m04! 👋 pic.twitter.com/xT1idCej8r

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) September 1, 2020

Gabriel started his career with Brazilian club Avai FC before joining Lille as a teenager in January 2017 for £1.5m.

During his time in France, he was loaned out to Ligue 2 side Troyes and then to Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb before breaking into the Lille first-team.

He became one of the top defenders in Europe, after his outstanding performance with Lille, helping the team to a fourth place finish in the cancelled Ligue 1 season due to the coranavirus pandemic.

CloudNine Sports understands that Gabriel rejected a move to Manchester United, Everton, Chelsea and Napoli who were all interested in his signing, as Arsenal won the race. 

He also featured six times in the Champions League as Lille finished bottom of Group H, which contained Valencia, Chelsea and Ajax.

Gabriel speaking on his move to the North London said:

"I and the technical director [Edu] had several good chats about Arsenal and the new project.

“As the days went by I was getting very excited about it, then I had a call from the coach and that was very reassuring.

“Having the coach himself calling you to say he wants you in his squad motivates you a lot. That is the very reason I am here today.

"I know he is a great coach and I will make progress with his help.”

Internationally, Gabriel is yet to play for the Brazil's senior team, having played for Brazil’s Under-20s and featured at the South American Under-20 Championship in 2017.