Gabriel Jesus “is an Arsenal player”, according to Fabrizio Romano in his latest CaughtOffside column, with the Gunners seeing off genuine interest from their rivals Chelsea and Tottenham to sign the Brazil international.
An announcement is surely imminent now, though Romano could not yet put a date on it, but Arsenal fans can rest assured that a deal is done to bring in Jesus from Manchester City.
Following the recent departures of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, it was crucial for Mikel Arteta to rebuild his attack, and this signing will surely ease fans’ fears about the new season.
Bringing in a big name like this is some statement by the north London giants, and Romano gave CaughtOffside his exclusive insight into how they managed to persuade the player even without the lure of Champions League football.
“Gabriel Jesus is an Arsenal player, 101%,” Romano writes in his latest column, to be published in full later this morning. “I don’t know when the official release will be due because these things are up to the clubs, but the documents are signed.
“Chelsea and Tottenham were genuinely interested in signing Gabriel, they had a lot of contact with his agent but he wasn’t a priority target; Arsenal instead wanted him as the star of the project and this made the difference, as well as the contacts with the Brazilian director Edu Gaspar and Mikel Arteta who insisted a lot.
“Certainly the lack of Champions League was an issue, but Arsenal have an ambitious future project and so they convinced Gabriel Jesus quickly.”
Can Gabriel Jesus transfer fire Arsenal into the top four?
Gooners will be thrilled by this news and itching to see Jesus officially confirmed by their club, but will it have the desired effect and get this team into the top four?
It’s a very different challenge for Jesus after five and a half seasons at Man City – suddenly, the 25-year-old will have a team built around him, rather than being a squad player for a side who dominate most of their matches.
In truth, a move to Chelsea would probably have been an easier transition for him, while even at Spurs he wouldn’t have quite the same expectations on him due to playing up front alongside Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.
On its own, this signing probably isn’t enough, especially after the disappointing form of Nicolas Pepe in recent times, while even Emile Smith Rowe went a little off the boil towards the end of last season.
Arsenal probably still need another top signing in attack, so Gunners fans would do well to keep their eyes peeled for an update on Raphinha in the rest of Romano’s CaughtOffside column later today.