Gabriel Jesus has completed his move to Manchester City after a reasonably protracted transfer saga, but he will have to wait a while for his debut. The Brazilian will be loaned back to Palmeiras until the end of the Brazilian league season in December, at which point he will make the permanent switch to the Premier League.
Jesus made his mark on the Palmeiras first-term last season, notching 20 appearances in the Serie A. However, he couldn’t help them finish higher than ninth, although they did qualify for the Copa Libertadores. This season has been much improved for the club, who sit one point off of first and recently topped the table. Jesus also leads the goalscorer charts with 10 in 14 appearances, with another 9 in other competitions.
Perhaps in part due to the wealth of talent available out wide and up front for Pep Guardiola’s Blues, Gabriel Jesus will immediately head back to Brazil to finish the season, before putting on the sky blue shirt full time for the start of 2017.
Jesus is the latest in a string of signings so far for City, who are looking to rebuild after nearly missing out on Champions League football last season, pipping Manchester United to the post on goal difference alone. Ilkay Gundogan, Nolito, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Leroy Sane have all already signed, while it is expected they will be joined before the window closes by John Stones, Geronimo Rulli and Marlos Moreno (with the latter two going on loan for the season) at the very least.
Brazilian news outlet Globo are reporting that City will pay €32 million (£27 million) for Jesus, with €20m going to his club and the rest going to third-parties.
The same article also states that the player’s reason for joining City – despite more attractive offers from United and Barcelona – was Pep Guardiola, who personally spoke to Gabriel in order to persuade him to move to The Blues. Real Madrid and Bayern Munich were both also interested, but the 19-year-old has instead plumped for City.
