Gabriel Jesus: Why the Brazilian will be a key player for Arteta in Arsenal’s juvenile attack – scout report

After reports at the end of last week, Arsenal had come to an agreement to pay Manchester City for Gabriel Jesus. Arsenal, who missed out on qualifying for the Champions League in fifth place last season, beat are set to beat some well-known competition in their courtship for the 25-year-old. City rivals Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur were also said to be interested in a transfer of the offensive player.

Gabriel Jesus will be Arsenals fourth summer signing. So far, the Londoners have signed Marquinhos (from FC Sao Paulo), goalkeeper Matt Turner (New England) and Fabio Vieira (FC Porto). The Gunners have their first appearance of the new season on August 5 against Crystal Palace. The London derby is also the opening game of the Premier League season.

Arsenal’s situation

Arsenal continued to make steady progress under Mikel Arteta and came agonisingly close to Champions League qualification last season. And one of the reasons they may have missed out is the lack of a prolific forward with Saka, Smith-Rowe and Odegaard being their top scorers and none of their recognized forwards going into the double digits. So, it makes sense that the club signed Gabriel Jesus of Manchester City who was on the market. But what exactly would he bring to the side? In this analysis, we take a look at his strengths and weaknesses in this scout report. Furthermore, in this tactical analysis, we will figure out how he fits to Arteta’s tactics at Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta has settled on the 4-2-3-1 as his preferred setup for Arsenal, with an attacking line featuring Bukayo Saka on the right, Martin Odegaard as a ten, one of Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli on the left, and either Alexandre Lacazette or Eddie Nketiah leading the line. The three players behind the striker have thoroughly impressed this season. Saka in particular is fast becoming one of the most exciting players in the Premier League, while Odegaard is a brilliant creative playmaker who complements the pace, trickery, and dynamism of his fellow attackers well.

Player Profile

Gabriel Jesus’s Arsenal wages are expected to be in the region of £10m a year (£192kpw). Jesus, who turned 25 in April, signed for Manchester City in January 2017 and Arsenal would be only his third club. With 236 appearances for City, Jesus has scored 95 goals, with 46 assists, picking up 22 yellow cards and no reds. In fact, he’s only had one red card in his career, picked up when he played for Palmeiras, who will receive 5% of the fee (£2.2m) being paid to Manchester City by Arsenal.

At 25 years of age, Jesus is the perfect age profile for Arteta: Hes still young enough to be malleable and develop his game further, but at the same time he has plenty of experience on the biggest stages. A great trade of Jesus is his flexibility. Throughout his Manchester City career, he has had plenty of experience playing on either flank although he has mainly been a solo forward, but at times showed he was able to play in a front two with Sergio Kun Agüero.