Mikel Arteta has announced that Gabriel Jesus, an Arsenal striker, had knee surgery. The Brazilian is now expected to spend some time on the sidelines after missing Wednesday’s Emirates Cup encounter against Monaco due to the issue.
Jesus’ knee injury forced him to miss three months of the previous campaign. Against Cameroon in Brazil’s final World Cup group encounter in Qatar, he experienced the problem.
The former Manchester City player put in a lot of effort to regain his previous level of fitness and participated in the season’s final few months. On the pre-season trip of the USA last month, Jesus was prominently featured.
He wasn’t listed on the team sheet for Monaco’s visit, though. At the time, Arsenal acknowledged that he had a knee problem that would be looked at.
Jesus underwent an operation, according to Arteta, who stated this in his post-game press conference.
He will be sidelined for a few weeks and miss both the season opener against Nottingham Forest at home and the Community Shield match Manchester City on Sunday. Arteta said: “Unfortunately, he had a little procedure this morning.
“He’s had some discomfort in his knee that caused him some issues, so they had to go in and resolve it. It’s not something major, but he’s going to be out for a few weeks.”
Jesus’ injury from late last year is to blame, Arteta acknowledged, and it is a major loss to lose him so soon into the new season.
He added: “A big blow because we had him back to his best, especially with the way he played against Barcelona and he was in good condition. We’ve lost him but he’s been feeling some discomfort in the last few weeks and we had to look at it and we had to make a decision and the best one is to protect the player and get him back as soon as possible, so we decided to do it.
“It’s something related to the previous injury that he had and the surgery. He had some irritation in the knee and we had to get it resolved.”
Against Monaco, Eddie Nketiah replaced Jesus as the captain of Arsenal. In a 1-1 draw, the forward, who is expected to start the season up front, scored his team’s goal.
Leandro Trossard and new signing Kai Havertz are further alternatives for Arteta up front. Due to the injuries he sustained in the United States, Folarin Balogun was not present on Wednesday.
