Gabriel Jesus Will Add a Thrilling New Dimension to Manchester City’s Attack

Manchester City’s summer transfer spend was considerable. It totalled in excess of £150 million, a revamp that saw them add first-team ready stars to their already impressive core of world-class players, as well as a number of youngsters whose immediate development will be overseen elsewhere.

It’s left them in a far healthier state than the back end of last season when their squad had become somewhat depleted and lacking quality in a number of areas. They now have strength in depth, huge goalscoring capability and a raft of talented young players and are well-placed for success. They are far from the finished article, but there’s an obvious improvement already.

It was a bold shopping spree. Txiki Begiristain was under-fire before the summer after a series of mixed transfer windows had seen City spend big but fail to address key weaknesses. But his role in bringing Pep Guardiola to the club—the most important signing City have made since the takeover in 2008—has secured his position, and buoyed by the new manager’s pulling power, he has completed a series of ambitious and impressive transfers. City have brought in quality at good value, and their squad is now in a position to challenge for the top prizes once again.

But it was perhaps the signing of Gabriel Jesus, a player who won’t arrive at City until January, which brought the most excitement to the club’s boardroom. Jesus, 19, was highly sought-after. It’s likely every top club in Europe wanted him; such was the impression he’s made for Palmeiras in the Brazilian top flight since breaking into the first team in 2015. The goals have flowed—he has 14 in 34 league games already—and so have the accolades, with Jesus awarded the 2015 Best Newcomer award in the Brazilian top flight.

“I look at Gabriel and see myself in the past,” says Brazil legend Ronaldo, a man who knows all about scoring goals and winning titles, per Jack Lang writing in the Mirror.  “I see similarities… him being so young but already having achieved so much and having so much responsibility. He’s got a fantastic future ahead of him and he’s already enchanting us with what he’s doing.”

It was a major coup for City to land him—with a personal phone call from Guardiola a key factor in Jesus’ decision to turn down Barcelona.

“It was a complicated decision, but in the end my desire to learn won,” Jesus explained in an interview with the Guardian.  “The presence of Guardiola as a manager at City and the fact that it is a great club were very important factors in my final decision.

…

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com