Flamengo are exploring the possibility of a loan move for Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus, per reports out of Brazil. The 28-year-old is rehabbing from a torn ACL suffered in mid-January and not with the Gunners on their preseason Asia tour. The Brazilian attacker is expected to be out of action until late fall / early winter.
Gabriel Jesus has been regularly posting images and videos of himself rehabbing, including wearing Arsenal gear while working out at the Palmeiras club facility in Brazil, where
he started his professional career. It’s a bit odd that he’s been linked with a move to Flamengo given his career ties to Palmeiras. The two clubs are bitter rivals.
Flamengo signed the out-of-contract Jorginho early in the summer after he, Arsenal, and likely the Brazilian club, negotiated to terminate Jorghi’s contract a month early so that he could participate in the Club World Cup. Both Brazilian sides participated in the summer competition, and transfer analysts / speculators have suggested that the financial payouts might help South American and other non-European sides entice players with bigger offers.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The reports suggest that the clubs would split Jesus’ wages while on loan, which would save Arsenal about £6M. That’s not a massive sum but money saved is money saved. The Gunners seem likely to eclipse the £200M mark in spending this summer, and they may not be done in the market. A couple million here, a couple million there and you’ve bought Cristhian Mosquera for £15M or saved up a portion of the fee for a bigger signing.
A loan move, whether to Brazil or elsewhere, seems to make sense for Gabriel Jesus this season. The World Cup is next summer, and Gabby J is on the outside looking in at the Brazil squad. He needs to play as much as he possibly can once he returns from his injury to give himself a shot at being on the plane to the U.S.
Those minutes aren’t likely to come at Arsenal. Kai Havertz is firmly ahead of him on the depth chart and Viktor Gyokeres is joining the club as an out-and-out striker.
It’s a shame that Gabriel Jesus couldn’t stay healthy at Arsenal. He was transformative for the attack when he joined the club. Looking back at the last few seasons, fall 2022 was among the best the Gunners’ attack has been, arguably only eclipsed by spring 2024, when Arsenal were regularly scoring 3, 4, and even 5 goals a match.
What could have been. Arsenal were five points clear at the top of the Premier League table at the 2022 World Cup break. Gabriel Jesus had five goals, five assists, and 27 successful take-ons in the first 14 matches of the season.
He suffered a knee injury in what was essentially a dead-rubber match against Cameroon and he hasn’t been right since. That injury kept him out until late March 2023. He’s had at least one procedure to clean up the knee and multiple trips to the training room for what I’m sure are related issues, whether directly or indirectly. Injuries, especially ones from which you don’t heal correctly and / or completely from, beget more injuries.
It feels as if it’s been a constant cycle of working back into form, starting to get into a rhythm, and then more time on the shelf with an injury for Gabriel Jesus. You feel terrible for the guy. He’d scored 6 goals in 6 matches in the month prior to tearing his ACL against Manchester United in the FA Cup. To be fair, the scoring record was 3, 2, 0, 1, 0, and 0, but still, he was playing well and looking as if he could contribute to an Arsenal title challenge.
Instead, his time at Arsenal looks to be winding down. He’s under contract through June 2027 — the likely path seems to be loan this season, sale next summer. He’ll be 30 when his current deal expires and will have hardly played for the club over two-and-a-half seasons. He doesn’t have a future in North London.
It would be great for Arsenal if, once he recovers, he has a great half-season wherever he ends up. I hope he makes the Brazil squad. You should always root for the guys who have had a rough go with injuries, the potential benefit to Arsenal is a bonus.
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