Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus has revealed that a series of unfavourable treatment from Pep Guardiola at Manchester City influenced him to part ways with the Cityzens.
Before joining Arsenal last summer, the Brazil international worked under Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium for five years playing as a key striker while winning a number of trophies.
Following his move to the Gunners, Jesus made 17 goal contributions in the Premier League despite suffering injuries along the line marking a successful debut season under Mikel Arteta.
However, his latest revelation means he did not leave Manchester City on a good note but had to flee for freedom.
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According to him, it all began when Guardiola left him out of the starting eleven in a crucial Champions League match.
“There was a Champions League game, PSG, at home, in which he put [Oleksandr] Zinchenko as a false 9. Crazy thing,” Jesus said. “The day before, he didn’t even use him [Zinchenko] in training, he had put me in as a striker… Zinchenko even joked with me: ‘That day I felt bad for you,” he said on the Denilson show” podcast
“Two hours before the game, there’s a team talk, the team eats, rests for 30 minutes, and goes to the game. He told us the team… I didn’t even eat. I went straight to the room, crying, I called my mother to talk: ‘I want to leave.’ I’m going home, because he put him [Zinchenko] on, and he didn’t put me on. He put a left-back there. I went crazy.”
In the second half, Jesus came on to replace Zinchenko and set up the equaliser before scoring a late goal to give City a 2-1 victory.
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“I didn’t warm up,” Jesus added. “I felt bad. Five minutes after [Kylian] Mbappe scored the goal for 1-0, he [Guardiola] called me. I gave an assist and scored; we turned it around 2-1. In the next [Champions League] game [a 2-1 win at RB Leipzig], I thought I was going to play, and I didn’t play.
“There was a lot of that with him [Guardiola], and it’s not easy. But one [player] evolves. It is really hard. That’s when I decided, I didn’t want to stay anymore. And I decided to leave.”
Meanwhile, both Jesus and Zinchenko are active Arsenal players and are expected to play more together in London.