Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus has admitted that scoring goals is not his “strong point” after drawing another blank for Brazil in their World Cup qualifier against Argentina.
Despite carrying an injury into the November international break, Jesus played the full 90 minutes of his country’s 1-0 defeat to fierce rivals Argentina on Tuesday night.
Jesus hasn’t scored for Brazil since a friendly against South Korea in June 2022, which is also the only international goal he has managed since the 2019 Copa America. Having scored an impressive 18 times in his first 35 senior appearances, that South Korea goal is the only one in the last 29.
The 26-year-old has never been a consistently prolific goalscorer throughout his career. Although starting with a bang in his first few months in Europe, his best tally in a single Premier League campaign remains the 14 he scored for Manchester City in 2019/20.
Only twice in seven full seasons since leaving Brazil has Jesus gone over 20 goals and never has he been higher with 23. An injury-hit first year with Arsenal in 2022/23 saw him max out at 11 goals in all competitions.
Yet Jesus, known for his versatility arguably brings things to his teams in different ways.
“There are things that bothered me a lot in the post-2018 World Cup cycle. I was younger, I had a different mind. Today I am a more mature man, more educated, a family man. I understand that football is a priority for me, and I know I need to be well to do my best, especially in the Brazilian team,” the player explained to local media in the wake of the Argentina game.
“There are things I can’t control. I train, I look for, I try, I move, I help the team. The goal is inevitable. I believe it’s not my strong point, but I score goals and I’m there to score goals. When coming back, it will happen. It’s work. I work quietly, I’m not one to respond to criticism, I’m not one to be happy for praise. I already was, I won’t be anymore.”
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