Arsenal searched high and wide for the answer to their most important question of the summer, but in the end, the answer was a little closer to home.
Last season, the Gunners missed out on the Champions League places by the narrowest of margins to fierce rivals Tottenham with the deciding factor arguably being the disparity of firepower between the two teams. Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son and Dejan Kulusevski managed 45 goals in the Premier League between them, while Alexandre Lacazette, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka scored just 21.
Tammy Abraham, Dusan Vlahovic and Alexander Isak were among the many names Mikel Arteta looked at to fix his attacking issue, but in the end, it is Gabriel Jesus who has been chosen. So why exactly has the Brazilian been brought in?
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Well, the most obvious answer to that is his goals. In his five and a half seasons in English football, Jesus has racked up the seventh-best goal involvements per minute ratio in Premier League history.
However, the Brazilian's expected goal record does not suggest that he is the type of striker who will hoover up every half chance that comes his way. He has underperformed his xG in each of his five and a half seasons with Manchester City (as per understat). But there are other aspects to his game that make him the ideal fit for Arteta's Arsenal.
The main one is intensity. This is something Arteta has wanted at the Emirates more or less since day one. "We have to be dominant, we have to show passion and we have to show aggression," the Spaniard told BT Sport ahead of his first game in charge at Arsenal back in December 2019. "I want to attack, I want to dominate the opponent, I want the opponent to play in their own half."
Jesus enables Arteta to do just that. He is up in the 94th percentile for both tackles made in the attacking third of the pitch and interceptions among forwards in the Premier League this season (as per fbRef ). In matches against Southampton and Chelsea, Eddie Nketiah had joy creating opportunities from high pressing situations, which is something Arsenal are looking to do more of next season. The Gunners' new number nine will mean that events like that are no longer the exception, but very much the rule.
Take this instance from Manchester City's Premier League clash with Chelsea. Thomas Tuchel's side are building out from the back when Matteo Kovacic looks to play back to Thiago Silva.
It's the 82nd minute of a high-intensity game that Jesus started, but he is still switched on enough to pounce before his compatriot can get a hold of possession.
He then flicks the ball back to Phil Foden who, in turn, plays it to Jack Grealish who should score to make the game safe for City. This style of centre forward play is certainly different to what Arsenal have become used to in recent months. Alexandre Lacazette's comparative lack of mobility meant that this kind of high-intensity pressing was rarely an option.
The Frenchman was also far too keen to come deep to link the play. While this did have its perks in terms of bringing others into the game for a short while during Arsenal's best-attacking run of the season, it eventually made the Gunners far too predictable in attack. Knowing Lacazette would not run in behind, opposition teams simply pushed up and squeezed him out of the game.
Jesus is capable of doing both. He is willing to drop deep in order to link the play if needs be - in fact, the situation that saw Gabriel Magalhaes sent off for a second yellow card in the New Year's Day clash between Manchester City and Arsenal at the Emirates came from this. But having spent plenty of time playing on the wings recently, he is just as happy running in behind or even turning and dribbling himself.
Take this instance below from Manchester City's win over Leeds. City have the chance to attack quickly with Phil Foden on the ball. Where Lacazette may look to come short to receive the ball off Foden, Jesus instead decides to run in to the space behind the Leeds defence.
This forces the Leeds defenders towards their own goal, creating more space for Foden to run into. The England international obliges before eventually slipping it through to Jesus for his 13th goal of last season.
Arsenal already have the attacking talents of Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard to throw at teams, but add Jesus into the mix and suddenly opposition defenders have got a real handful to try and stop. Their business this summer is by no means done, with Lisandro Martinez, Youri Tielemans and Raphinha among the list of players still being targeted. However, when it comes to their most important signing of the summer, the Gunners have gone acted decisively to deliver Mikel Arteta who is the perfect fit for his system.
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