Arteta can restore Jesus as Brazil’s World Cup hope after he was compared to R9

Gabriel Jesus is out for redemption.

The Brazilian has officially become an Arsenal player after the club completed a £45million deal with Manchester City.

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Just weeks after Louis van Gaal reportedly told Manchester United target Jurrien Timber a transfer would dent his World Cup chances, Mikel Arteta has convinced Jesus that moving to north London would only enhance his.

Jesus, who worked under Arteta at the Etihad, has failed to ever really establish himself in Pep Guardiola’s first team during his five-and-a-half years at the club.

The 25-year-old did enjoy a strong end to the season however, highlighted by his stunning four-goal haul against Watford in April.

After that performance, Roy Hodgson likened Jesus to the original Ronaldo – a comparison ‘El Fenomeno’ once made himself!

Before City swooped to sign him from Palmeiras, Ronaldo told Globo TV: “I’m a fan of Gabriel as I look at him and see myself when I was younger.

“I see many similarities between us.”

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But despite scoring 95 goals and winning loads of trophies for City, comparisons to Ronaldo have been few and far between in the years since.

And the reason for that is largely down to the 2018 World Cup in which Jesus failed to shine under the spotlight down the middle.

Ronaldo ranks second behind Miroslav Klose with the most goals at the World Cup, including a brace in the 2002 final which Brazil won.

Yet Jesus failed to find the target once in five games for Selecao in Russia as they suffered a disappointing last-16 exit to Belgium.

It was an experience that weighed heavily on Jesus, whose slump carried over for months into the 2018/19 season with City.

He told Globo TV: “I went to the World Cup as a key player and I ended up not scoring. It affects you.

“I was scarred by that. People will always remember Gabriel who did not score in the World Cup.”

Worse still was Jesus was dropped by coach Tite for his first post-World Cup squad, only returning after evolving into a wide forward position.

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talkSPORT’s man in Brazil Tim Vickery: “The low point of his career was the last World Cup.

“He appeared to be the solution at centre-forward for Brazil, he’d been very good in qualification, but then in the World Cup he had a mare.

“He didn’t score a goal. Much maligned centre-forwards have scored for Brazil at the World Cup, he didn’t manage one. It’s been a trauma for him ever since.

“What is he? Does he want to play as a No.9, or does he want to play as a wide striker? He has kind of run away from being a centre-forward.

“I spoke with the Brazil coach about Gabriel Jesus not that long ago and he said that after the World Cup he called over Gabriel Jesus and asked him, ‘Where do you want to play?’

“Gabriel Jesus said, ‘I don’t mind’, but the coach said, ‘Obviously you mind, you obviously have a preference, what is your preference?’

“And somewhat sheepishly Gabriel Jesus said he’d rather play out wide. This is important for whoever is going to buy him.”

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Jesus’ dip in confidence is all the more surprising considering this was a player that once was so fearless he played football in a north Sao Paulo military prison as a youngster.

“The pitch was inside Romao Gomes prison but it belonged to the police and it wasn’t far from the bad guys,” he told Four Four Two in 2017.

“Only the policemen used to play there. I’ve never felt afraid of anything there. Well, I used to get there very early in the morning.

“Several times I left home around 5 or 6am.”

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Jesus will now look to Arteta to restore his standing as a world class number nine after the departures of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette.

“We spoke a couple of times about the club, the players, the project and the future,” Jesus said to Arsenal.com.

“I believe 100 per cent in Mikel.

“I had a very good time with him before, he’s a very good guy and a very good coach as well.

“He helped me a lot [at Manchester City].

“We would always stick together after the training sessions and do some finishing or something.

“He’s a very intelligent guy and was an amazing player, so if he knows something he can teach me or the young players.”

Jesus’ last goal for Brazil came back in July 2019 – it’ll be up to fantastic manager Arteta to help him show his country why he finally might be able to live up to that Ronaldo comparison in Qatar…