Despite the four goals, Gabriel Jesus scored in City’s loss to Watford on Saturday, the word associated with Jesus since his arrival in January 2017 has barely come to fruition.
The ball for the match, Gabriel Jesus squeezed as he left the Manchester City stadium. After scoring their first Premier League hat-trick, was obscure by messages from his teammates.
Vamos Pele felt silly but had to be comfortable being born in Brazil.
Despite the four goals, he scored in City’s defeat to Watford on Saturday. The word linked to Jesus since his arrival in January 2017 has barely come to fruition. His weekend doubled the number of goals he scored in the league earlier this season. Committed, flexible and hardworking, he is more of a striker. Who city manager Pep Guardiola highly values both as a team player and as a person, if not as the heir to England’s best team.
And his importance could increase this week in ways he never expected.
Because, on Tuesday, Jesus Brazil’s short-lived center-forward could even be use as City’s right-back in the 1st leg of their Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid.
With Kyle Walker out injured, Joao Cancello suspended, and another potential replacement. Center-back John Stones, also out injured, Guardiola lacks options for key positions give Real’s left-winger Vinicius Junior is one of the most developed players in Europe this season.
Maybe Guardiola needs to be creative.
“If Gabriel has to play again soon, he will play again soon,” he said.
That Jesus saw himself in this role is admirable but also disturbing. Would Real ever consider playing Karim Benzema at right-back? Same with FC Bayern Munich and its star striker Robert Lewandowski?
Jesus does not appear to have developed into the goalscoring striker City hoped for when he joined Palmeiras more than five years ago. He started well at City, scoring seven goals in 11 games in the second half of the injured 2017–18 season. But ultimately failed to replace Sergio Agüero from the typical first-team squad for the following seasons.