Manchester City Manager Pep Guardiola has heaped praises on Gabriel Jesus after the Brazilian forward scored four to help Manchester City extend their lead on top of the Premier League table to four points.
Gabriel Jesus’ current Manchester City contract ends in 2023, there are speculations that Arsenal has agreed on personal terms with the player representative but there is no official bid to Manchester City.
The Brazilian forward is expected to cost Arsenal about €30. Mikel Arteta is eager to add Jesus to his already young squad as he previously worked with him as an Assistant Coach at Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola was full of praise for Gabriel Jesus’ Man of the Match display and refused to comment on the player’s future amid rumors linking him to Arsenal.
What did he say?
“I said before if there is one person in world football that deserves nights as Gabriel had, then it is him,” he said. “We are delighted for him and he helped us a lot. He helped us to win this game. Of course, the assist from Oleks [Zinchenko] and the assist from Kevin [De Bruyne] are brilliant, but he has to be there.”
However, when asked about the speculation on Jesus’ future, Guardiola said: “I want to tell you something; Gabriel [Jesus] is our player. I don’t know what is going to happen, but he is a Man City player. When he has days like today, I am the happiest man in the world!
“Every player is happy when they play 90 minutes all the time but at the end of the season, whether he wants to extend, stay or leave, I don’t know or don’t care. We have less than one month. My only concern is the players will do everything to try and win, after that no one knows what will happen.
“If one person in the world deserves nights like this, it’s him. There is no one on the backroom staff or who knows him that isn’t happy for him. When you are so positive and generous as he is in every way, life and football can reward you.
“When he has situations like this we’re happy for him because he’s so generous. It doesn’t matter what position he’s in, we know how he fights for his mates. He’s fantastic.”
Pep Guardiola also claims Kelvin De Bruyne and Natha Ake played the Watford game with minor injuries.
Speaking at the post-match press conference Guardiola admitted that De Bruyne and Ake were playing through fitness issues.
“I have 14/15 players fit and the last few games Kevin and Aymer play a lot of minutes,” he said at his post-match press conference.
“Kevin, it doesn’t look like it, but he is playing with some disturbing niggles in his ankles for the kicks he got in the last games.
“Of course, at 4-1, I am thinking about that. It is not just Madrid, it’s Leeds as well. You have seen the schedule.
“That is why at that moment I am thinking the game is almost over and I give rest in the last minutes to the players who have played a lot of minutes.
“We don’t have lots of central defenders that is why Nathan played with a big problem in his ankle.”
