By Rob Worthington (Deputy Editor)
There’s a commonly held belief within many football circles that Arsenal could really benefit from the impending World Cup break.
Mikel Arteta's side play their final league fixture next weekend before club football pauses to allow players to represent their countries in the absurd Qatar competition commencing on 20th November.
And heading into that break, the Gunners are in a strong position. Providing they beat an out of form Wolves side at Molineux next week, they’ll be top of the Premier League over the World Cup period. The rest for many players will be welcome after a hectic start to the 2022/23 season.
A few members of the Arsenal squad were set to reap the full benefits of this rest period regardless of a potential international call-up.
First-team regulars Martin Ødegaard and Oleksandr Zinchenko, who both coincidentally captain their national sides, were never going to be travelling to the Middle East this winter as neither Norway nor Ukraine earned World Cup qualification. Kieran Tierney’s Scotland also failed to qualify.
Then there’s several Arsenal players who were simply never in contention to earn a call-up, the likes of Rob Holding, Fabio Vieira, Eddie Nketiah, Marquinhos, Cedric and Reiss Nelson.
Emile Smith Rowe of course misses out through injury, but he’d also fallen out of contention under England boss Gareth Southgate in recent squad selections.
So that leaves 10 players who were either never going to go to the World Cup this winter or were never likely to. A sizeable chunk when you consider this is an Arsenal squad currently sitting top of the tree in the Premier League.
But these aren’t the only players who won’t be going to represent their countries in Qatar this winter, and the question must be asked, is this really a good thing for Arsenal?
There are 4 regular starters at Arsenal - Benjamin White, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, and Gabriel Magalhaes - who for one reason or another failed to earn places in England and Brazil squads respectively for the last international break.
It turns out Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli will be going to the World Cup after all, but it has been revealed Gabriel Magalhaes has been omitted from the Brazil squad, while it is still unclear whether White will be called up by England. On the one hand, this is of course beneficial to Arsenal.
There’s now no chance that Gabriel Magalhaes will pick up an injury whilst on international duty over the winter period, and he'll be raring to go come the Premier League’s return in late December.
But for Gabriel, it’s hard to imagine that he won’t interpret the news as a bit of a kick in the teeth.
Gabriel Magalhaes, a player who has helped form the joint-meanest defence in the Premier League this season, misses out to Gleison Bremer. Bremer has struggled for Juventus since joining Juventus in the summer. Not to mention there's not a single left-footed centre-back in the Brazil squad.
This is an objectively ludicrous decision from Brazil coach Tite, but that’s not what this piece is about, nor would I need to write 680 words to persuade you of that.
This is a young and impressionable centre-back who will justifiably be upset by his omission. From a fitness perspective, he'll benefit from the time off. However, mentally, he will suffer over the coming weeks.
Gabriel will see his compatriots competing at the World Cup knowing he is more than good enough to be part of that squad. It will hurt.
He will of course be fine. Gabriel receives more stick than most Gunners players, something which he deals with admirably. He's perhaps the Brazilian who would've taken most from the award of an international call-up. But this season has been something of a psychological struggle for him, and this is just another mental obstacle for him to overcome.
So, while Arsenal fans can appreciate the benefit from an Arsenal perspective of his exclusion, it is not something to celebrated. Gabriel Magalhaes will be hurting right now, and he needs backing from his supporters.
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