Arsene Wenger says new signing Gabriel is “very close” to making his debut for the club.
The defender has been named on the substitutes’ bench on three occasions since signing from Villarreal in January.
Wenger is confident the Brazilian will succeed in England and has confirmed he will make changes to his team for Sunday’s game against Middlesbrough.
"He’s a player who has good qualities - he has good pace, he’s good in the air and is good in one against ones"
“[Gabriel is] a player who has the ability and likes to defend - it’s more and more difficult to find people like that,” Wenger said. “He’s a player who has good qualities - he has good pace, he’s good in the air and is good in one against ones.
“It’s better I don’t talk too much, let him play and he can show how good he is.
“We have the squad to [compete], but that’s down to how dedicated, how focused, how motivated, how united we’ll be until the end of the season that will of course decide that.
“This is a period where you need more from your players than usual, because it’s the last four months of the season. You need everybody to give a bit more than they’re used to.
“[The squad will] not [be rotated] especially because it’s the FA Cup. Some players will play who have not played recently, but we treat this game exactly the same as a Premier League game.”
Gabriel trains
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