Time waits for no man, not even Jesus …

Morning.

Let’s start with the story from James in The Athletic yesterday (£), about Gabriel Jesus. He reports that Arsenal wouldn’t rule out selling the Brazil international this summer as they look to rebuild up front, perhaps in a different way than they had envisaged due to the impact of Kai Havertz.

It’s worth pointing out that being open to a player’s departure doesn’t mean the player isn’t valued or useful, or has no part to play. Nor is it the same as actively trying to move someone on, as has been the case with certain individuals in the not too distant past. Even then, wanting rid of a player and being able to shift them are two separate things.

So, with Jesus it’s likely to be a case that he is high profile, still relatively young (he turned 27 in April), and retains a decent level of value in the market because of his quality and experience. Should a bid arrive that reflects that, the club will give it some thought. However, it is a measure of how football moves so quickly that this is even a discussion point.

When he arrived from Man City, he was absolutely sensational in the opening part of the season … until he went to the World Cup and suffered that injury. He brought dynamism and movement, hold up play and goals (albeit not quite as many as you you’d like) to the number 9 position, and he was so integral to everything we did. He played a big role in that flying start, which propelled us to a title challenge.

Then the injury. The surgery. He came back in March, appeared in all 12 of our remaining Premier League fixtures and scored 5 goals along the way. Not a brilliant return, but not terrible for a player coming back from a significant injury. This season though, it’s been more of a struggle. He has missed 8 games in total: the two opening games of the campaign after another small procedure on his knee, three games in October/November (including the away trip to Newcastle), and three in February after providing a goal and an…


Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/05/time-waits-for-no-man-not-even-jesus/

Author : arseblog

Publish date : 2024-05-02 06:54:39

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