Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes was withdrawn from the Brazil squad as a precaution, football.london understands, with the club continuing to monitor an Achilles tendon issue. The 26-year-old was announced as being the latest of Dorival Junior’s group to pull out from the squad ahead of the international break on Monday.
“I had already communicated previously that we work with a slightly more extensive list,” said the Brazil boss. “A pre-call, we can put it that way, and again, today, we had another casualty. Unfortunately, Gabriel Magalhaes is uncalled. In his place, we are calling Bremer, from Juventus Turin, from Italy.”
The centre-back was due to face England next week at Wembley but will now be working on getting back to full fitness at the Sobha Realty Training Complex instead. Gabriel has played at 90 minutes for the Gunners in all but one of their last 18 league games as well as 120 against Porto in Europe just seven days ago too.
His inflamed Achilles will now see him out of action for at least two weeks for his country. Mikel Arteta will now be hoping that with the time off from playing, he will be able to shake off the issue he has been managing for a while – though it hasn’t transpired onto the field just yet with performances as strong as ever.
The Gunners take on Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium when the domestic season resumes at the end of March. They will also be hopeful of bringing back fellow Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli after he was also removed from the national team squad.
Martinelli injured his foot in the 6-0 hammering of Sheffield United a fortnight ago and was seen with a protective boot and crutches at the 2-1 win-win over Brentford just five days later. Gabriel is the latest to join the treatment room though and will now miss out on his Brazil squad since becoming a staple in the side last year.
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He has played the last six times for his country, starting each game in the South American World Cup qualification so far. This latest call-up, albeit for two friendlies, was still a big moment for him.
“Thank God for another opportunity to represent the greatest team in the world!!! [prayer hands emoji]” he posted on Instagram after the initial selection. He has since taken to social media again, putting the post to his story with a praying hands emoji once more.
Thomas Partey was also left out of the Ghana squad for the two-week break. Jurrien Timber is the only other serious injury concern for the Gunners.
