I don’t think Gabriel Jesus is a top goalscorer, says former Arsenal defender Mikael Silvestre

 

Arsenal’s biggest signing in this summer transfer window till now has to be the signing of Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus who is joining the Emirates after winning the Premier League last season with Manchester City. The Brazilian is all set to lead the lines for the Gunners from the upcoming season. However former Arsenal defender Mikael Silvestre feels that Jesus is not the exact number 9 that the club needed as he is not someone who will score tons of goals.

Silvestre has serious doubts over Gabriel Jesus’ goal scoring abilities but he is happy that the player has joined from City and will bring in vast experience for the youngsters and also inculcate the winning mentality that he has had at the Etihad.

Arsenal did not have a proper striker with Alexandre Lacazette returning to France, therefore Mikel Arteta decided to bring in Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City. The deal was worth  £45 million along with add ons. It is a big price tag that the former Palmeiras man needs to justify in the coming years at North London.

Jesus joined City in 2017 and played in many different positions in the City attack. Starting from leading the lines as a conventional striker to playing on both the flanks. However he never really managed to cement his place during or after Sergio Aguero’s departure. Hence City decided to go ahead with Erling Haaland.

Silvestre has doubts over his abilities as a premium goalscorer. The Frenchman does not believes that Gabriel Jesus will be competing for the Golden Boot in the Premier League with strikers such as Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland.

Silvestre recently shared his opinion in an interaction where he said, “It’s a good addition, but I still don’t see him as a top goal-scorer or a finisher. He’s got so much to his game but right now he’ll just have to try and replace Aubameyang or Lacazette.”

He believes that to understand his role as a primary striker, Gabriel Jesus should be given time as he did not have great success at the Etihad in replacing or succeeding Aguero upfront. “It’s going to take him time to become that number nine because at City, they had Aguero and he didn’t establish himself when he left as the main number nine,” Silvestre added.

The Brazilian scored 13 goals along with 12 assists in 41 matches for the Cityzens across all competitions. He has already started scoring in red as he scored twice in Arsenal’s 5-3 win over Nuremberg in a pre-season friendly game.