Manchester City: Why Jesus won’t be the messiah

Incoming Manchester City centre-forward Gabriel Jesus is a Brazilian phenom with all the makings of a future superstar, but those looking to him to solve City’s short-term problems should think again.

I guess it sort of comes with the territory of being a consensus pick for best manager in football, getting endless amounts of stick the vast majority of which is hyperbolic and ridiculous. I wonder if Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is even perhaps used to it by now?

Perhaps he should be. His first game, as an untried and untested gamble on behalf of the Catalonian machine, for Barcelona ended in defeat against minnows Numancia. In his second, Racing Santander scored a late equaliser off a deflection to stun the hosts.

Of course, the local media had only but been waiting for just such an opportunity to have a go at Barca for their risky, to say the least, decision to go with Guardiola over a more proven option. Similarly, Pep himself was ridiculed as being a novice, without the experience, the ability or the acumen to make it in La Liga at the time or possibly ever. Many servings of humble pie for said media later, here we are today with Pep at City.

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His first ten games in charge, all ending with a win, gave little wiggle room for the detractors to find what to detract about, but since then the Blues’ fortunes have been more mixed. Draws and losses in all competitions, and naturally ignoring how they thrashed Barcelona in Europe, paints exactly the picture many expected from the beginning: a manager out of his depth, a team not strong enough to compete this year, a work in progress on all fronts.

Indeed, there’s much truth to the conclusion. Pep himself has readily admitted as much and he did so during the historic ten game winning streak. Beyond that though, it’s obvious that Guardiola has been laying the foundations for the future at City by signing only a handful of experienced players and a plethora of young, up-and-coming talents instead.

Among those, one who has flown under many a radar is Gabriel Jesus. The 19-year-old Brazilian centre-forward, described widely in South American media as the next Ronaldo, was sought after by a legion of the sport’s top clubs, notably Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and United. His decision to choose Manchester City, in the end, was down to a phone call from Pep himself promising to craft him from the potential next Ronaldo into the real deal and more.

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study, develop and grown under the very best coach was too much for young Jesus to resist and he signed over the Summer.

One little hang-up in the whole proceedings was Gabriel’s team in Brazil, Paleiras, were locked in a deep battle for the local title and he was apprehensive to leave his club and teammates without finishing the job. With the Brazilian league ending in December, Jesus would agree to come to the Etihad on the condition he would arrive in January 2017.

The date is rapidly approaching and, as it does, so does talk of Jesus in every day conversation for Blues and pundits alike. City’s current issues couldn’t be more ripe for it: more chances are being created by the Blues than any other team in the league, but, when it comes to converting them it’s just not happening. Sergio Aguero is knee-deep in a dry (for him) spell for club and country and backup Kelechi Iheanacho has, understandably, yet to reach a similar level of consistency in front of goal.

So who is the saviour for Pep and his attacking style of football? Why young Gabriel Jesus. He’s fast, tricky, always runs fearlessly forwards and is as precocious a goal scorer as one would expect for his age and stage. With that last piece in the puzzle, so they say, Manchester City should be complete and well on their way to the inevitable silverware that follows Guardiola wherever he goes.

It sounds perfect, but it’s not. Since the 17^th of July, Jesus has only scored once for Palmeiras, a dry spell which speaks volumes about how prolific he must have been given he still has 15 goals and 4 assists in his 23 appearances this season. While he has still been scoring, and creating assists for that guy Neymar, at the international level, it’s hard to deny that it’s not an especially encouraging record given the difficulties City seem to be facing.