Arsenal’s new signing Gabriel Jesus has been compared to Thierry Henry and Ian Wright and the £45million man has already impressed Gunners boss Mikel Arteta. The Brazilian striker has scored seven goals in pre-season and recorded one assist ahead of his side’s opening game of the Premier League season away to Crystal Palace on Friday evening.
Jesus was brought in from Manchester City to lead the line after both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette departed the Emirates in the past year. Former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor believes that the Brazilian is “guaranteed” to score at least 15 league goals and compared him to two Arsenal legends.
“I don’t really count pre-season because everyone is at different stages of fitness, the players you play against might not be as fit as you,” Agbonlahor told Football Insider. “But what you can tell from pre-season is that he is going to fit into the Arsenal way. He’s going to get so many chances, chances that [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang, [Alexandre] Lacezette, [Eddie] Nketiah and [Folarin] Balogun were all missing, he will put away.
“He will get at least 15 Premier League goals, guaranteed. That’s huge and what Arsenal have been missing. Over the years they’ve had Ian Wright, Thierry Henry, now this is the next one for Arsenal. I’m sure he’ll be on penalties, he’ll be on everything, he’ll be the talisman.”
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“We tried to improve the team and recruit in order to get better and obviously there were some things that we didn’t have. We tried to get them when we bring people in or develop our players and that’s always the objective.”
While Jesus and fellow striker Eddie Nketiah have impressed during pre-season, with the English forward also notching five goals and four assists, former Arsenal striker Kevin Campbell believes the Gunners still need another new signing up top.
“We need another forward,” he told Football Insider. “I would sign a versatile forward who can play across the front line. This is where Liverpool and Man City have got it right in my opinion. They have interchangeable pieces up top.”
