There has reportedly been quite a dramatic shift in Arsenal’s stance on Gabriel Jesus and the possibility of allowing him a transfer away this summer.
The Brazil international initially looked an exciting signing by the Gunners when he joined from rivals Manchester City last season, but it’s fair to say his second campaign at the Emirates Stadium as not been as impressive, while he’s had injuries across both years in north London.
According to The Athletic, Arsenal could now seriously consider selling Jesus for the right price, and this comes not long after club director Edu made a trip to Saudi Arabia to sound out the market over there when it comes to offloading unwanted players this summer.
It remains to be seen if this definitely means Jesus will be Saudi-bound, or if he’ll even leave at all, but the report generally hints strongly towards the 27-year-old no longer being indispensable in Mikel Arteta’s squad.
Jesus transfer: Should Arsenal revamp their forward line?
The Athletic also report that Arsenal could let Eddie Nketiah go this summer, so could we be set to see big changes to the Gunners’ attack?
One imagines letting both Jesus and Nketiah go in the same transfer window could be risky, especially as Jesus has the quality to fill in out wide as well, giving Arteta some potentially important squad depth and rotation options.
Still, overall there can surely be no argument against AFC bringing in someone to provide more of a goal threat, with Jesus never really looking like someone who could be a 20-25 goal-a-season player.
The former City man scored 11 goals last season and has 8 so far this term, so even though he has other qualities, there’s a case for saying Arsenal need something a bit different in that area of the pitch as there have been a few games this season when they’ve created numerous chances but suffered defeat because they couldn’t take them.