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When Arsenal signed Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City last summer, the split between the Brazilian forward and the English giants seemed amicable. However, the circumstances behind his Arsenal move were more intriguing than many had thought.
Jesus revealed on the Denilson Show podcast that he decided he wanted to leave Manchester City after not starting a Champions League group stage match against PSG in November 2021. Pep Guardiola instead started left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko as a False 9, a move that made Jesus cry.
“Two hours before the game, there's a team talk, the team eats, rests for 30 minutes and goes to the game. He told us the team, I didn't even eat. I went straight to the room, crying, I called my mother to talk: ‘I want to leave.' I'm going home, because he put [Zinchenko] on, and he didn't put me on. He put a left-back there. I went crazy,” Jesus said.
Jesus would later replace Zinchenko in the match and scored the game-winning goal after providing the assist on the equalizer. Those sorts of moments happen often with Guardiola, according to Jesus.
“There was a lot of that with him [Guardiola], and it's not easy. But one [player] evolves. It is really hard. That's when I decided, I didn't want to stay anymore. And I decided to leave,” Jesus said.
Ironically enough, Jesus and Zinchenko are again teammates at Arsenal after both of them made a move to the London-based club last summer. Gabriel Jesus enjoyed a solid first season with Arsenal, scoring 11 goals and assisting seven in 26 Premier League matches with the Gunners.
