Gabriel Jesus is increasingly likely to leave Manchester City this summer, and one of the destination options he will be considering is Arsenal.
According to The Athletic journalist David Ornstein, his representatives have already been contacted by the Arsenal technical director Edu, and the talks between the two parties are well underway. On the other hand, a proposal is yet to be submitted to Man City.
The competition in the attacking line at City is very fierce even as is, and with Jesus being far from a regular starter for Pep Guardiola’s side, things are only going to get more difficult and his game-time reduced further after the expected arrivals of River Plate youngster Julian Alvarez and Borussia Dortmund star Erling Haaland.
For himself, Jesus is understandably refusing to talk about the subject, given that City are involved in tussles for the Premier League title and the Champions League trophy, and both he and his team need no distractions before the season is over.
However, the fact remains that the 25-year-old is about to enter the final 12 months of his contract at the Etihad, and there have been no reports of a new one being discussed as of yet.
“Manchester City have obviously got a bit of an issue there, because they’re trying to bring in Erling Haalad, and they’ve got Julian Alvarez too, coming from River Plate,” Ornstein said. “And therefore, there is a very good chance Gabriel Jesus will leave. He’s out of contract in 2023, and we’re not aware of any new contract being on the horizon.
“And Arsenal are very interested. As I reported, they have held talks through their technical director Edu with Gabriel Jesus’s representatives, who they know very well from Edu’s time when he was at Corinthians as technical director in Brazil, and with the Brazil national team.
“There are no talks yet, to my knowledge, between the clubs, so that’s obviously a step that will need to be taken and a significant one too. But the early indications are that Jesus would be open to making this move, in theory. So let’s see what happens.
“We know Arsenal need to bolster in the front line and they intend to, and Gabriel Jesus is somebody that fits the bill. He can drop deep, and pull wide, which is what Mikel Arteta is looking from one of the potentially two forwards he recruits in the summer.
“It’s something to keep an eye on. Nothing is advanced in this point in time in terms of club-to-club, but I think it’s gone quite far in terms of those conversations between Edu and Jesus’s camp.”
