Robin Bairner
Gabriel Jesus celebrates scoring his first Premier League goal of the season for Arsenal against Crystal Palace
© IMAGO
Gabriel Jesus seemed to be on his way out of Arsenal little over a week ago, yet stellar performances against Crystal Palace may force Mikel Arteta into a rethink of his January transfer strategy – particularly if an injury to Bukayo Saka proves significant.
Saka limped off midway through the first half of the Gunners’ 5-1 success at Selhurst Park, by which time Jesus had already made his mark, scoring either side of a strike from Ismaila Sarr to send the Emirates club on their way to victory.
Palace have seen enough of the Brazilian in recent days to last them a lifetime. Just days earlier, he scored a hat-trick as their North London rivals won 3-2 in the Carabao Cup.
His goals on Saturday were his first in the Premier League since he scored against Nottingham Forest on 30 January. Even in a backup role to Kai Havertz, more has been expected of the former Manchester City forward, who has only six league strikes in 18 months.
Jesus’ contribution against Palace was particularly timely as it arrived on an evening when Saka went off injured and was spotted leaving Selhurst Park very gingerly on crutches.
Arsenal are unlikely to invest big in January, and if they do conduct business, it will likely be kept to a minimum.
The prevailing logic had been that they may choose to sell Jesus at this juncture, but there was always a nagging worry that Arteta lacked a natural backup player to Saka. Indeed, it was a position they tentatively sought to recruit in during the summer. No deal was forthcoming, but now their hand may be forced.
Arsenal, meanwhile, will likely spend big to reinforce the centre-forward area. FootballTransfers has detailed Arteta’s preference to sign Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig but also his admiration for Sporting CP hitman Viktor Gyokeres, who is their second choice. Neither will come cheap, and this likely means no January deal in this area.
If Arteta does choose to spend, then, it may well be that events at Crystal Palace have acted as a reminder that upgrading Jesus is not necessarily a more important task than finding support for Saka.