Although it’s unlikely anyone at the club will come out and say it in interviews, Arsenal really do need to win the Premier League title in 2024/25.
By the end of the upcoming season, Mikel Arteta will have been at the helm for five and a half years, and backed to the hilt by his board during every transfer window.
If he’s still unable to land silverware in the English top-flight, the Gunners hierarchy surely have to at least question what needs to happen in order for the Spaniard to be able to get over the line.
Arteta will, of course, live or die by his transfer decisions, and one that he appears to have made recently is astonishing.
Despite being incredibly injury prone and hardly having played for the club during 2023/24, according to Football Transfers, the club don’t want to sell Gabriel Jesus.
Arsenal keeping hold of Gabriel Jesus
The 27-year-old is apparently fitter than ever according to club sources, though frankly that’s not difficult considering the horrendous time that he’s had with injuries over the past couple of seasons.
In the last two seasons alone he’s missed 33 games according to transfermarkt, mainly due to knee problems.
If nothing else, he has to prove himself all over again, and that may be what benefits the squad most.
Genuine strength in depth is what all managers purport to wanting from their squads, so even if Gabriel Jesus isn’t a first choice, if he’s champing at the bit to be involved, that can only be good from Arteta’s point of view.
Time will tell of course just how fit the player is, and whether he can prove to be a genuine asset for his club in their fight to topple his former employers, Man City, from their perch.