Back in November, Arsenal star Gabriel Jesus was targeted by a bit of controversy following an interview given at the national team.
The centre-forward had claimed that scoring goals isn’t his strong feature, and got slammed but pundits who have been criticising his form ever since.
Today, it’s ESPN Brasil who features an interview with Gabriel Jesus, and those quotes were the main subject of that conversation.
The striker explained that that had been a stressful moment for him, and claimed that most people didn’t even try to understand it.
“It was a moment there, after a stressful game in which there were many situations and we lost to a rival. And sometimes we get tired of talking about it, you know? It’s obvious that they’re going to hammer away at it. I’ve always been honest. And there, after the game, I felt like talking. It’s just that I put myself in a position where I think I said the wrong thing to those people who don’t make the effort to understand.”
“I’ll say it again, but now I think it’s clearer: I don’t think scoring goals or fighting for the top scorer’s honour is my strong point, but I can improve, I want to improve and I will improve. I have other qualities too, but I score goals, I’ve scored goals that have helped the team, I’ve scored hat-tricks.”
Gabriel Jesus also claimed he has a different style than other centre-forwards, highlighting that he has other qualities that don’t necessarily impact on his goalscoring.
“Many people, not generalising, only look at the result after the game. Then they see that Gabriel didn’t score, didn’t provide an assist. And then they think ‘oh, he didn’t do well’ but they don’t watch the game and they don’t see what happened.”
“Obviously there are things to improve, there always will be, but the coach is happy. Of course I understand the real fans, who see beyond the goal. But they want their number 9 to score as well. And I score, you know? I’m getting better and better. But I also understand my other strengths, which I won’t give up in order to be a goalscorer. If you say to me: ‘Ah, but would you rather just score there and lose those other qualities?’, I’d say no.”
Playing for Arsenal this season, Gabriel Jesus has six goals and three assists in 15 appearances, and with the Gunners on top of the Premier League table, that hasn’t been such a big problem for him.
His big issue is with the national team, where he hasn’t scored any goals in the last two World Cups, and continues to be given that responsibility, even with a new manager in charge.
