Mikel Arteta spoke to the media ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League opener against Crystal Palace on Friday, and he admitted that Gabriel Jesus has adapted well thus far.
The Brazilian joined from Manchester City this summer to take over the main center-forward role after Alexandre Lacazette’s contract expired, and he has already scored seven goals in five pre-season appearances.
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Although Gabriel Jesus has boosted the team’s confidence, Arteta is hesitant to put too much pressure on his new signing, instead asking his entire team to contribute.
Speaking to the press ( via just Arsenal ), he said:
When you bring top players, they are coming from top clubs and they have been extremely successful over the years, they’re going to expect that. The role that Gabby has here is going to be very different to the role that Gabby had in his previous club.
That needs some adaptation and some time. He’s done it fantastically well and we’re all surprised how quickly he’s done it, but we have to share that responsibility and he’s an enormous talent, a player with a mentality that is so contagious and he’s going to give us a lot, but it’s a team contribution at the end of the day.