On Tuesday there were stories about Jorginho and his new deal, yesterday we had some noises about the potential of Arsenal listening to offers for Gabriel Jesus. You can tell we’re rapidly approaching transfer silly season, can’t you?

I have my own thoughts on this, as you’d expect, but as with all of these things there’s a caveat in there because we know that Arsenal and Arteta can often go in a different direction to what is expected of them. So I don’t think we can dismiss this completely. But from my perspective, I think this would be a bad idea and I am hoping it does not happen. We all know that Gabby J has had his fair share of injuries since joining us; he had a phenomenal start to life at The Arsenal, then he went through a slight barren spell on goals, then he went off to the World Cup and got himself injured, which meant he missed a big chunk of last season (99 days and 17 matches for us in total). He started pre season in the summer of 2023 well, picked up something just on the eve of the season and then missed most of August, before picking up a knock in October, then January and February.

He’s spoken about not remembering when he didn’t play without pain as early as the beginning of April, so we know that he’s a guy who has his problems and he’s even referenced the possibility of getting surgery in the summer. So we know that there are some challenges there. But for me the talent and versatility of this guy isn’t something we should just be dismissing. Arteta himself has talked him up at times this season, saying that he is a player who “changed our world”, so I am in no doubt that Arteta loves and appreciates what he brings to this group of players. He is an all-energy, strong player, better in the air than those non-Arsenal watchers would believe and whilst he doesn’t exactly have the best shooting boots in the world, he still pops up with important goals.

I love the handful he is for defenders and although he didn’t get on the pitch in the North London Derby, I am absolutely convinced that he still has a big part to play across all three positions of the front three. He did really well at right wing when Saka was injured at home to City, we know what he can do centrally and for City he also played left wing. The benefits we’ve reaped from having multiple players in multiple positions this season has helped us kick on from last season and for me I wouldn’t be entertaining a sale. Apparently his contract runs until 2027 so we also don’t really have to make any decisions this summer as it is.

I’d like to say that some of these factors alone should prevent any kind of further talk about him possibly exiting this summer, but as we all know, Mikel is ruthless and you only need to look at what happened with the Ramsdale/Raya situation to see what happens when Arsenal seize an opportunity to potentially get themselves any kind of marginal gain upgrade. If Arteta and Edu come across a striker who has a far better availability rate and is similar in style and output as Gabriel Jesus, what I think we’ve all learned is that you just never know what might happen.

But as it stands right now I’d be surprised to see us looking to move him on. If anything it might be a similar situation to what happened with Raya, who was signed on 15th August with the season already underway. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Arsenal act in August, decide to keep Gabby J around and then have him fight for his place and then somebody like Eddie is already moved on earlier in the window. That’s the sort of deal that would make more sense, because most deals that happen don’t really get done early during summers where there are international tournaments. If Gabriel Jesus goes to join up with the Brazilian national team then he is unlikely to be getting a move anywhere until after then and that’s mid to late July. Eddie won’t be going to the Euro’s with England because he just hasn’t played enough football, so he is a far likelier exit earlier in the summer and if that happens I suspect Arsenal aren’t going to want Gabriel Jesus go unless they’ve found a couple of replacements. Which also makes it less likely. If Jesus doesn’t go to meet up with his Brazilian teammates, then that means he’s had surgery and will be out for most of the summer anyway, which would make it basically impossible to sort a move out for a player recovering from surgery, as it’d be too much of a risk for any buying club.

So I guess what I’m trying to say here is that I suspect a move this summer is unlikely. If we find that this time next year he’s not played as much, has had another few injuries, then I suspect that is the time Arsenal would be more likely to consider the situation. But for the here and now I think he’ll be around a little longer and for me that is great news for us. He is a valuable player and a good member of the squad.

And that’s probably all I’ll leave you with today. Tomorrow we’ll start to look ahead to a tricky game against a tough opponent in Bournemouth and I might do a little look at some of the data points to see what we’re up against when we play the Cherries on our own turf. Have yourselves a wonderful Thursday and I’ll be back in the morrow.