Why Arsenal have changed their mind about Gabriel Jesus amid possible summer transfer switch

Gabriel Jesus arrived at Arsenal in 2022 and in his first game at Nurnberg in a pre-season friendly had Arsenal fans believing they’d just landed a striker who would transform their fortunes. After years of purgatorial campaigns failing to deliver a return to Champions League action, Jesus would finally help end that torture.

Yet he would do more than just that and the goals and assists he contributed would help the Gunners embark upon a surprise title challenge upon which they continue to aim to better in this current season. Therefore why just two years after Jesus has arrived are there suggestions, as per The Athletic, that Arsenal are now open to selling the Brazilian?

The answer lies in multiple threads but leans heavily into the reality of these two seasons. If you ask anyone when Jesus was at his absolute best in an Arsenal shirt the response should be the first portion of his first season.

Jesus would become a staple for Fantasy Football players who relied on the former Man City man’s consistent returns each game week. In the first eight league games Jesus returned five goals and three assists, one goal contribution per game on average.

Whilst he wouldn’t score in the following six league games and provide direct assists in just one (the 5-0 win against Nottingham Forest) his performances continued to gain notoriety. The 1-0 win at a Chelsea side not yet considered the mess they are today was one such game however the winter World Cup would steal both Jesus away and the best of the forward that we might yet ever see again.

A knee injury meant Jesus would miss around three months and when he returned a new star had arrived and was taking headlines, Leandro Trossard. In the game Jesus returned, Fulham away, the Belgian would get three assists in a 3-0 win.

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However, determined to reintegrate, Mikel Arteta dropped Trossard, a decision which would prove incredibly costly. Jesus started against Liverpool (A), West Ham (A), Southampton (H) and Manchester City (A) in which Trossard came on only as a substitute – the Gunners failed to win any of these games.

Jesus’ injury issues followed him into the current campaign and although he has started many games through the middle, another new arrival – Kai Havertz – has shown what Arsenal have been missing as they look to improve upon a Premier League best of 88 goals last season and are only three off it this time around.

Jesus has only four of the 85 Arsenal have scored in the league this season, assisting another four. Yet, he has been valuable and his defensive performance at Manchester City was astonishingly good to aid the clean sheet that ended their rivals' 57-game run of scoring in every home clash.

The reality is at 27 and on a very good wage, Jesus is an asset that if they can sell Arsenal might be in for a very good fee and be able to reinvest both the transfer fee and removal of weight on the wage bill into more than just one good addition to the squad. Jesus, and similarly Oleksandr Zinchenko, were signed by Man City and helped them climb the ladder to compete with them.

That said, the reality is that both left City as Pep Guardiola found the players to supersede them and if Arsenal want to push above the serial league winners, they will need to do the same and progress beyond both Jesus and Zinchenko. This is why the club therefore will be listening to offers made in the summer.