Going a bit below radar, but Gabriel Jesus at Arsenal is going just as I predicted when they signed him.
Pretty good player at the time to get from where they were back into CL places and competitive mode.
But when it comes to actually making the last step between that and winning things… the same thing is happening to him what happened at City.
Not quite good enough, other players who are not strikers (or are becoming, Havertz playing ahead of him isn’t even news anymore) playing ahead of him, being played on the sides (that’s at least the positive with him), etc.
He was apparently this difference player when Arsenal bought him, a genius move to get him from City, but I just didn’t see it.
He had an injury, but soon you had a new narrative at Arsenal “we need a new main striker”.
For Jesus it is about his inconsistency, and there appear to be physical and mental issues that prevent him maintaining months long stretches of form.
Sometimes when a player like Jesus loses favour it is because the manager is no longer willing to trade off the lack of goals for the benefit of the overall game, and when that happens it is usually time for the player to either knuckle down and commit to a new role or leave. But at Arsenal he has just been replaced by a different version of himself, someone who will run around making a nuisance of himself while scoring the odd goal. It suggests there is a theoretical path back into the side if he can regain fitness and form, but that is always the issue with him.
Having Jesus as a squad player who can do a job in multiple positions is quality, he’s also someone who doesn’t seem to be a moaner.
But if they thought he was going to be the main guy up top who would be part of leading them to win the biggest prizes, I felt the sameproblems he had at City would appear (if Arsenal made the steps towards the last step, which they did).
