In what has come as quite a bit of a shock, the in-form Gabriel Jesus, who switched from Manchester City to Arsenal, has been left out of Tite’s squad for the upcoming Brazil games.
The South American country are set to play two friendlies in France, first against Ghana on September 23rd and then Tunisia on September 27th, and either the manager wants to simply try out some new faces or he hasn’t been as impressed with the Gunners star as others on these shores.
Jesus was signed for close to £47m this summer by Arsenal, who needed a new striker after losing both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette to free transfers, and made an instant impact at the Emirates.
He has scored three goals and assisted another three in six Premier League games to date, which many felt was enough to earn him a place in the Brazil squad.
However, Tite, relayed here by Globo Esporte, has instead decided to call up Manchester United’s Antony, Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino, Matheus Cunha, Neymar, Flamengo’s Pedro, Barcelona’s Raphinha, Tottenham’s Richarlison and the Real Madrid paid, Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior, as his forwards for the upcoming friendlies.
Whether this means Gabriel Jesus is out of contention for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar remains to be seen, but it’s certainly not the message he will have wanted from the national team manager, since part of the reason why he moved to Arsenal was to play regularly and work his way into his country’s squad.
