Gabriel Jesus could define Mikel Arteta’s reign at Arsenal – for better or worse
Alexandre Lacazette’s final Premier League campaign with Arsenal spanned 30 appearances. And in that time, he scored as many goals as Gabriel Jesus got in one afternoon. If that suggests the £45million Brazilian is the immediate upgrade Arsenal required in attack, his four-goal haul against Watford may have been a little deceptive. Take that out and he, like Lacazette, struck just four times in the top flight last season. Which, as a lack of goals from their specialist strikers was one of the factors that cost Arsenal Champions League football, may be inauspicious.
If the danger might be that Lacazette’s successor is too much of a like-for-like replacement, adding much-needed energy in the final third but not greater productivity, it could point to a theme in Arteta’s Arsenal. Their three top scorers in the Premier League last season were Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Martin Odegaard and maybe the striker will remain the foil, charged with making the attacking midfielders – a sizeable contingent since bolstered by Fabio Vieira’s arrival – the finishers. Jesus could seem well qualified: no one got more assists in Manchester City’s Premier League-winning campaign than him.
Yet the numbers highlight the enduring enigma of Jesus, that most industrious of conundrums. He spent much of his final season at the Etihad Stadium on the right wing, seemingly preferring it, apparently happy to relinquish the responsibility for finding the net. He arrived at Arsenal to take Lacazette’s No 9 shirt and pronounce: “I’m a No 9.” And, while it may be a contingency plan for him to revert to the flanks so Eddie Nketiah can lead the line, he has been signed as such.
But his status may feel incongruous. Jesus has been Brazil’s first-choice centre-forward but never really City’s: Sergio Aguero’s heir apparent was passed over for false nines and then Erling Haaland as succession planning changed. He had spent five-and-a-half years as a deluxe squad player, boasting a fine goal-per-minute average, sometimes serving as the big-game scorer – favourite opponents included Liverpool and Real Madrid – but often held in reserve.
Meanwhile, Arsenal’s search for the first striker Arteta has signed took in more totemic figures, in Dusan Vlahovic and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Jesus is less a target man than a player that Pep Guardiola repeatedly deemed the best striker in the world at high pressing: that, too, could create opportunities for Arsenal’s band of wingers and No. 10s. Off the ball, the most diligent of defensive strikers will be a distinct upgrade on Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The more pertinent part comes in possession, especially in the penalty box.
He may seem the anti-Aubameyang, and not merely because Arteta exiled the former captain as Arsenal in effect paid for him to go, before making Jesus among the most expensive arrivals in their history. The Gabonese could be a low-touch high-impact player, rarely involved in general play but potentially deadly. The busy Jesus can have the opposite effect: he contrived to underperform his expected goals in each of his six Premier League campaigns with City.
But in his first interview with Arsenal, he cited his time there with Arteta. “He helped me a lot,” he said. “We would always stick together after the training sessions and do some finishing or something.” The paradox of Arteta’s management may be that forwards became less potent under him at Arsenal – even if ageing was a factor for Aubameyang and Lacazette – but more productive when he was Guardiola’s assistant at the Etihad.
Jesus’ two most prolific years were the Spaniard’s last full campaign, when he struck 21 times, and the season when he departed in December, which yielded 23. They were also the two best in front of goal for Raheem Sterling, another to benefit from Arteta’s attention on the training ground. Arguably, both suffered from the Spaniard’s departure. Left to his own devices, Guardiola veered into the world of false nines and fielded more midfielders in the front three.
Yet he rarely needed a second invitation to praise Jesus. “If there's one person who deserves the best in life for him, his family, and his friends, it's Gabriel,” he said in April. It is a trait he shares with his former sidekick. Arteta has fallen out with Mesut Ozil and Aubameyang. An ode to Jesus suggests a hat-trick is unlikely. “It’s a package,” he said, explaining the appeal of his new recruit. “Start with his character, the person, the smile and what he represents as a human being. Then he’s an incredible professional, with his work ethic and enthusiasm.”
Yet his personality and attitude have rarely been in doubt. The question, given the difference in output between Arsenal’s strikers and Harry Kane, instead revolves around whether Jesus can either be as clinical himself or, with his selflessness, enable Arsenal and their band of midfield raiders to outscore Spurs. The tributes and his large medal collection can camouflage the reality he has not kicked on to become the world-class striker City seemed to be acquiring in 2017. Instead, he feels the signing who could define Arteta’s reign at Arsenal: for better or worse.
