Gabriel Magalhães made the leap from Brazil to Europe at an early age with very little professional experience under his belt, leaving his childhood club Avaí after just one senior season to join Lille’s reserves in France in January 2017. Three years later, two of which he spent out on loan, he has become hot commodity in the transfer market, with his name linked to Premier League clubs Chelsea and Everton.
The 22-year-old got to where he’s at now by keeping his head down and working hard. And that’s precisely what he’s doing now — at least as much as he can without any actual football to play.
“I follow [the rumours], but I do not get involved. I always tell my agents that, at the moment, I want to know as little as possible [about transfers] so I do not lose focus on the pitch.”
It’s hard to avoid some of that noise however, especially when it constantly invades your own Instagram and other social media accounts. But Gabriel can laugh it all off at the moment.
“I am happy to see my name being speculated amidst big teams. It shows that the work done up until this point has been good.
“I also see many supporters from both teams commenting my posts on Instagram. It is very funny.”
In the battle between Chelsea and Everton for his signature, the latter may be ahead based on the latest reports, but Chelsea could have an ace up our sleeves in Frank Lampard, who apparently was someone Gabriel admired growing up.
But either way, he is no hurry to make any big decisions just yet.
“[Lampard] was undoubtedly a great player. He was one of those players that you would admire from the TV.
“But we have to be calm about all of that [transfer business]. It might be too premature [to move out of France], and I renewed my contract with Lille until 2023.
“The focus right now is to come back to football and finish the season at a high level, and getting Lille a spot in next season’s Champions League.”
-Gabriel Magalhães; source: UOL
After all of that is done, Chelsea — or Everton — await! Probably.