New Arsenal signing Jesus needs time to adapt, says Arteta

New signing Gabriel Jesus has enjoyed an impressive pre-season at Arsenal but manager Mikel Arteta tempered expectations before Friday’s Premier League opener at Crystal Palace, saying the Brazilian striker needs time to settle in.      

Jesus netted seven times in five games during pre-season after joining Arsenal from Manchester City, where he scored 95 goals in 236 appearances in all competitions and played an important role in their four Premier League-winning campaigns.

“The role that Gabi has here is going to be very different to the role in his previous club. That needs some adaptation and some time,” Arteta, who worked with Jesus as assistant coach under Pep Guardiola at City, told reporters on Thursday.

“When you bring top players from top clubs and they have been extremely successful over the years, they are going to expect that. He is an enormous talent, a player with a mentality that is so contagious and he is going to give us a lot.

“He has done fantastically well and we are all surprised at how quickly he has done it, but we have to share that responsibility.”

Arsenal have so far completed the signings of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabio Vieira, Marquinhos and goalkeeper Matt Turner.

Arteta indicated there could be room for more arrivals before the transfer window closes on September 1.

“It’s always been my team. We have changed the squad,” Arteta said. “The players we have are more specific and better to the way we want to play.

“We are really active as you can see with ins and outs. Everything is still open, it’s a long window. Players are going to have the need to leave, some others to move and everything is open still.”

Left-back Kieran Tierney is still making his way back after  knee surgery in April while right-back Takehiro Tomiyasu and new signing Vieira have not featured during pre-season due to injuries.

British media reported attacking midfielder Emile Smith Rowe is still nursing a groin injury and will not travel to Selhurst Park.

Arteta said he hoped three of those four players would be in training later  on Thursday and could be in contention to face Palace, but he declined to specify who would miss out.

Palace, managed by former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira, beat Arsenal 3-0 in April last season but Arteta was more optimistic about Friday’s trip to south London.

“They showed last season how tough they are and how difficult they are to beat and how consistent they were at home as well. Hopefully, we learnt a lot of lessons that day,” Arteta said.

Reuters