Arsenal star Gabriel Jesus is again a reason for controversial comments in the Brazilian media today.
This time, it’s Band pundit Neto who made some heavy comments about the centre-forward getting called up for the current international break.
Quoted by Torcedores, the ex-player wonders why the Arsenal player is even in the squad, as he never impressed for Brazil and is actually injured.
“If the Brazilian national team belonged to the people, who would you call up in place of Gabriel Jesus, who isn’t even included in the Arsenal squad? Why is Gabriel Jesus with the national team? Because the national team belongs to the CBF,” said Neto.
“It’s not possible that a centre-forward who hasn’t scored a goal in two World Cups,” Neto began, saying that Pedro, Hulk and Marcos Leonardo would be better options.
“I can’t belittle Gabriel Jesus, but as a national team player he’s mediocre. He’s not a centre-forward. He’s not Careca, he’s not Ronaldo, Romário or Vavá. How can you call up a team that isn’t Brazilian, that belongs to the CBF? You call up an injured player. He doesn’t train. I saw it yesterday.”
Gabriel Jesus didn’t score a single goal in the 2018 World Cup, when he was Brazil’s number nine, and did the same in the 2022 World Cup, when he was brought on in the second half of three games, before getting injured.
His numbers for Brazil are indeed not impressive, with nine goals in 43 matches in official tournaments, and that’s why many people wonder why he’s still called up.
The striker had been injured at Arsenal and there’s indeed been a controversy about why he was now called up. He’s ruled out of tonight’s game against Colombia, and according to recent reports, he’ll try to recover in time to face Argentina next week.
