Palmeiras president Leila Pereira has confirmed that they contacted Arsenal about a potential move for Gabriel Jesus but were told it wouldn’t be happening.
O Globo have an interview with Pereira today in which she admits attempts to bring Jesus back to the club from Arsenal fell flat.
Jesus has been linked with a return to his former club in the last few months, with reports in Brazil stating that he was being eyed as a big signing ahead of the Club World Cup next summer.
Those reports indicated that Palmeiras wanted to make a big name signing for the tournament, which has been expanded and newly imagined by FIFA.
Jesus would be such a signing, and several reports indicated contact had been underway with Arsenal for some time.
The idea was later dismissed by journalist Gabriela Santos, who explained why contact did not mean a deal was there to be done. She believed that Arsenal could still sell the forward elsewhere in Europe than back to his former club.
Now Leila has explained what went on and revealed Arsenal simply refused to put any conditions for a transfer on the table.
“Gabriel Jesus is not coming,” she said when asked directly about the rumour.
“We got in touch with Arsenal, and they said: “Leila, there are no conditions whatsoever. We are not going to negotiate the athlete.” Closed the subject.
“Our base are these athletes who are already with us and are extremely successful. There are some positions that Abel would like to reinforce, but I’ll tell you in advance: forget the star. The big star of Palmeiras is the squad. I don’t believe in idols.
“What wins the championship is the team. I know fans don’t like that, but it’s the truth. You may even really like an athlete because he stood out in a championship, but the team wins.”
