Arsenal star Gabriel DM’ed Rio Ferdinand after taking offence to critical comments
Rio Ferdinand has revealed that Arsenal star Gabriel Magalhaes once privately messaged him after criticising him.
The Brazil international was less than happy with Ferdinand after the former Manchester United star spoke about his play on his YouTube channel.
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Gabriel did not miss a single game in the Premier League last season but has been benched every match so far this campaign by Mikel Arteta.
Ferdinand criticised the centre-back last season for being error-prone - something that did not go down well with the Arsenal star.
And when speaking about Gabriel, the BT Sport pundit told his : “I said that last year and he didn’t like it, he DM’d me.
“This is a big thing, for me, with players today, they can’t take criticism.
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"Players today, not all of them, I have had quite a few players who have come through their agents.
"I have said, ‘don’t you get your agent to speak to me. You get your player to come and chat to me and I will chat to him, no problem’.
“Yes, he [Gabriel] came direct to me, which I respect. But, at the same time, I don’t think he saw what I was saying.”
Gabriel has come under fire over the last year for some high-profile mistakes made in big games.
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The Brazilian remained a staple of Arteta's side having played all 38 games in the Premier League last term, however, he has yet to start a match this season, though he has come off the bench twice.
It has raised eyebrows over the sudden change in selection, especially with clubs in Saudi Arabia reportedly interested.
But Arteta has insisted that his decision to leave Gabriel out is merely a tactical one.
He said: “It’s about the games we were expecting, that I was expecting, and how I wanted to defend and attack and what I believed was the best thing.
“He’s played in both games, he helped us to win both games for different reasons... he’s going to play a lot of games. But that’s the decision sometimes.”
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