There is less than a week to go before much of the world celebrates the birth of a kid who amazed one and all with his extraordinary gifts. Soon after, Manchester City fans will be rejoicing in similar fashion and for similar reasons but with his namesake.
The imminent arrival of Jesus to the north-west is getting Blues into a fantastic tizzy, excitement that is all the more electrified due to the misfiring forward line he is set to reinvigorate with his pace, tricks and goals. If Pep Guardiola’s messianic status has slipped in recent months, then this 19 year-old from Sao Paulo is hoped to be City’s second coming.
He is potentially a saviour to help resurrect a fading title charge. Enough with the awful puns though and enough with the hyperbole. Granted the omens look extremely positive that Gabriel Jesus – purchased for £27m in the summer but allowed to stay at Palmeiras until November to help them win their first championship title for 22 years – will prove to be an eye-catching success in the Premier League and establish himself as the bona fide superstar he already nearly is.
But the club have been duped before. Remember Robinho, who arrived with gold-plated credentials only to leave two years later labelled a flop? What about Jo, who admittedly was never burdened with much expectation yet still (somehow) boasted 20 appearances for the seleção. He too departed to sarcastic fanfare. City’s track record then with Brazilian strikers can be compared to an actress with a penchant for bad boys. It never ends well.
Yet every quote, stat, clip, and action so far suggests that on this occasion they have got it very right indeed. The teenager leaves his homeland a league winner having fired 12 goals in the Campeonato Brasileiro. He also departs as the proud recipient of the Golden Ball, the award given to the country’s best player.
Such early impact has naturally seen him promoted to the national set-up and five goals in seven games is proof that the famed yellow shirt fits him like a glove, as does playing alongside Neymar in a strike-force set to terrorise World Cup defences in 2018.
Speaking of Neymar, word was passed down from football’s pantheon this week that Pele now regards the young phenomenon as the superior talent. This should be taken with a hefty pinch of salt of course – if Pele wore the same boots as God he shares the analytical brain of Robbie Savage – but the same can’t be applied to Ronaldo who said earlier this year – “I look at him and see myself when I was younger.”
Lastly there is Guardiola himself who has explained with powerful simplicity why signing the forward was one of his first priorities on taking charge at City – “When the ball is there, it’s a goal. He has the sense of goal. So we buy goals”.
Goals and a veritable firework display of invention. If you haven’t yet enjoyed a YouTube session devoted to this searing young talent’s best bits then I implore you to stop reading this right now and do so.
It is conjuring on fast forward. It is a devastation of space and flailing limbs committed with innate ease. Ah but this is England, I hear the doubters say; the land of Ryan Shawcross on a wet Wednesday night and meat and potato challenges. Even the best of the best need time to adapt and harden while the rest of the best eventually slink off to Spain bad-mouthing our climate.
While that is true – to an extent – the clichés can be rebuffed with other clichés in this instance. Gabriel Jesus grew up in the Jardim Peri favela playing barefoot on concrete. He developed in the amateur leagues where tackles that won the ball were considered a surprise bonus: hurting the opponent was the objective. He’ll be ‘reet’ and with his mother, brother, and two best friends accompanying him to our shores there is little danger of off-the-field distractions becoming problematic either.
Which leaves us with the where and whens. If left to the player he would be in the starting line-up against Burnley on January 2nd but most likely he will be phased into proceedings as the month goes on with a possible debut pencilled in for the FA Cup tie at West Ham a week later.
As for where, though Jesus is right-footed he has shown himself to be adept at drifting in from the left to use his stronger side to maximum effect while his eye for goal means any more Aguero-shaped holes in the City side will be easier to bear.
Potentially then, as City begin to gear up for the business end to the season, they could conceivably parade a front three of Jesus, Aguero, and an alternating Sterling or Sane with De Bruyne orchestrating as a ten and – what the hell this is Pep – so let’s throw Silva in there too. The defence will unquestionably remain an issue until the personnel are upgraded but the goals plus column – like their incoming new superstar – is set to explode.
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