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Transfers
What Arsenal are privately concerned about Gabriel Jesus ahead of the summer transfer window
It seems fair to say that Arsenal fans were disappointed once the January transfer window ended on Monday evening.
At different points, Mikel Arteta seemed quietly confident that Arsenal would sign a replacement striker in the wake of Gabriel Jesus’ serious knee injury.
Aside from Jesus, Arsenal only have Kai Havertz at their disposal as a natural number nine, and beyond him it’s academy player Nathan Butler-Oyedeji.
Put bluntly, the Gunners have taken a big gamble on Havertz’s fitness until the end of the season, a calculated risk that is understandable to a degree.
Arsenal want to sign Alexander Isak or Benjamin Sesko primarily and weren’t willing to settle for a short-term deal at the end of the window.
Late summer moves for Neto and Raheem Sterling have been criticised of late, and it seems as if Jason Ayto and co were reluctant to do anything similar.
Arsenal might be unable to sell Gabriel Jesus in the summer
That being said, Arsenal also had to factor in one or two other things into their decision not to spend big on a striker mid-season, and one of those was Jesus’ injury.
According to a report by the , Arsenal have a ‘concern’ that the Brazilian striker cannot be sold in the summer owing to his knee injury which could keep him out for a year.
Arsenal paid up to for Jesus when they recruited him from Manchester City in 2022, a deal which was initially a big success and looked like a coup.
However, many fans in N17 imagined that Jesus’ would be the one to make way for either Isak or Sesko, but it may not be that straightforward.
Even without his injury, which could prevent him being fit enough to sign for a new club, it was always going to be difficult to shift the striker given his big wages.
Arsenal signed Jesus as a superstar, and the number nine is on superstar wages.
A difficult and delicate situation for Arsenal to navigate, and the prospect of Jesus sticking around in the summer perhaps explains why the club needed to reserve all the funds they could in order to still execute their plans.
Arsenal said no to signing Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich
All in all, it was a frustrating month for Arsenal, but fans should be partly reassured because of the quality of players like Ethan Nwaneri.
Put simply, Nwaneri has arrived like a new signing, and as Arteta said, he’s got more talent than anyone the club might have recruited in the transfer window this month.
Arsenal decided against signing Mathys Tel, a decision they’ll now be able to analyse close by given that he’ll still be playing his football in north London with Tottenham Hotspur.
The Gunners have taken a risk, but even if they don’t catch Liverpool in the title-race or win the Champions League, it still could pay off in the summer.
Sign Martin Zubimendi, Nico Williams and Sesko, and all will be quickly forgiven.
But is that realistic for a side who didn’t spend this month, and have some of the issues mentioned above?