Arsenal have held talks with Gabriel Jesus’ camp, but appear to face a fierce battle over a deal for the Manchester City striker.
The Gunners are known to be among the clubs interested in a deal for Jesus, who is close to entering the final 12 months of his contract at the Etihad Stadium.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta worked closely with the Brazil international during his time as Pep Guardiola’s understudy and has designs on significantly bolstering his attacking options this summer.
With Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah out of contract and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang having departed in January, not to mention the doubts over the future of club-record signing Nicolas Pepe, Arsenal are known to be targeting the additions of at least two new forwards at the end of the season.
And Jesus’ agent Marcelo Pettinati claims to have already held talks with Arsenal, insisting that discussions over a potential move have been positive and are ongoing.
However, he also confirmed that the Gunners are far from the only club interested in his client, who has scored 13 goals in 39 appearances across all competitions so far this season and 95 in 234 overall since joining City from Palmeiras in a £27million deal back in 2016.
“We had talks with Arsenal about Gabriel Jesus, we like the project - it’s a possibility we’re discussing,” Pettinati told transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano.
“There are six more clubs interested in Gabriel - he’s focused on the final games with Man City. We’ll see”.
Jesus remains an important figure to the Premier League leaders under Guardiola, but reports suggest he is not part of the Spaniard’s plans for the future with confirmation on Tuesday that City have agreed a £51m deal to sign Norwegian superstar Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund this summer.
Arsenal, meanwhile, are also believed to be interested in a deal for Jesus’ team-mate Raheem Sterling, who is also out of contract in the summer of 2023. However, his wage demands could prove a significant stumbling block.
