It was a brief phone call, but Pep Guardiola had him swayed. Most of Europe’s premier clubs had been in contact but it was Manchester City, in the end, where he chose to pin his future to.
Guardiola told Gabriel Jesus, the dazzling, teenage Palmeiras forward that he would have an important part to play. He, too, would depend on the Brazilian in his newly-constructed team. They shared, he disclosed at the time, an equally-felt adoration for football. For Jesus, the message was loud and clear; he was the manager’s man.
Though it wasn’t just this, entirely, the conversation, that had influenced him to move to the Blue side of Manchester. Guardiola, the methodical, footballing purist, was the only coach, of the many interested sides, to personally get in touch. This, he has made very clear, was what impelled him to join, possibly, football’s most ambitious project.
Now, though, as Guardiola sifts through his squad each week he ought to, be grateful, even, relieved, to find Jesus, the Brazilian, the man he wanted most.
The goals Jesus scored during the thrashing City handed Liverpool, offered the perfect snapshot of Jesus. In the little time he has spent in England, two things, for sure, have been gleaned from him. The first, he is a poacher, the type of striker the modern game is steadily detaching itself from. The second is that he is run by a motivation, one that is scarce among his contemporaries, it’s a motivation that originated from his São Paulo upbringing, though, he has carried it right with him, to the top.
For Jesus’s opening goal of the afternoon, he, rather brilliantly, squeezed into a small pocket of space in the Liverpool box, Kevin De Bruyne aware to his whereabouts, finely caressed a ball towards the area, Jesus climbed highest, he powered the cross past Simon Mignolet.
[2-0] #LFC
His actions in the lead up were a matter of pure striker’s instincts, the knack to sniff out a goal, the ability to be in the right place at the right time. Just a few minutes before, he had a goal ruled, narrowly, offside for a nigh-on identical goal (albeit from the right-flank) to the one he’d score, soon, later. Again, he showed a steely level of ruthlessness, the ruthlessness that, initially, brought him into Guardiola’s consciousness. Jesus describes it as a “coldness”, anyone close to him will tell you he’s always had it.
The goal that followed painted a picture of his determination. That he did not stop in his tracks, as countless others would have in similar circumstances, whilst Sergio Agüero raced to goal after Fernandinho slid a pass in between Liverpool’s centre-backs, that he, instead, lingered next to the Argentinian the entire time, anticipating a saved shot, providing a constant option, speaks volumes of his tenacity.
Agüero with just Mignolet in his path pecked a pass to Jesus, he was five-yards from the net and tidily jabbed the ball home. Too, that Agüero was self-assured enough to allocate what could, easily, have been his own goal, to his strike partner, demonstrates a relationship, that many saw as doubtful, could see light at the end of the tunnel.
How good Jesus is at being a striker is only just being, truly, realised. Last February, in a league game against Bournemouth, he cruelly suffered a broken metatarsal, he would be out of action for over two months. Fernando Prass, the Palmeiras goalkeeper, told The Independent, at the time, he knew he’d return strong, he was “certain that he’ll react well.”
This is just brilliant by Gabriel Jesus, shame that Neymar couldn't take advantage of that chance pic.twitter.com/pjrIqjfXUz
— Matheus Milanez (@biffmila) September 5, 2017
Persistence, of course, defines him. And, on April 27 he returned in the Manchester derby, ahead of schedule, and, also, played in the remaining five league games.
At present, though, this season, most importantly, he is manifesting that his bright start to his previous campaign wasn’t only a flickering light. He has scored three league goals so far, the second most in the league and the most of any City player. In a side of glittering attacking talents, he is the reliable, efficient presence. When City, most, need a goal, he can provide it. Forget the future, he is here for the present.
“Manchester City have a very special player with Gabriel Jesus,” Ronaldinho, the jewel of the footballing world said. “Maybe even, in the future, the best player in the world. “You look at Gabriel Jesus and he has no fear at all.”
And indeed, Jesus is a player is a player of unlimited promise. As you watch him skate here, there and everywhere about the playing pitch, as every nutmeg, flick, or step over draws an exhale from the crowd, there is an infectious joy that is attached to him.
More than anyone, Guardiola, whilst he observes from the touchline, should count his blessings — because that Brazilian is his.
