Gabriel Jesus will miss the opportunity to face former employers Manchester City in the Community Shield due to injury.
City will take on Premier League runners-up Arsenal in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday, and will be looking to win the showpiece fixture for the first time since 2019.
The match promised to be another reunion between City and former striker Gabriel Jesus, who left the club to join Arsenal last summer.
Jesus spent five-and-a-half seasons at the Etihad Stadium, helping Pep Guardiola’s side to win four Premier League titles.
The Brazilian asked to leave the club last summer in search of more regular minutes in his preferred striking role, and City accepted a £45m offer from Arsenal.
Jesus injury woes
Although Arsenal pushed City hard in the title race last season, on a personal level Jesus had a frustrating campaign.
The 26-year-old sustained a knee injury while representing Brazil at the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar.
The issue required surgery and kept him out of action for three months.
Unfortunately for Jesus the problem hasn’t been fixed, as he has now suffered a recurrence of the injury.
On Wednesday Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta confirmed that Jesus will miss the start of the new season – including the Community Shield clash – after again undergoing knee surgery.
Arteta admits dissapointment
“It’s a big blow because we had him back to his best, especially with the way he played against Barcelona, and he was in good condition, and we’ve lost him,” the Gunners boss said.
“He’s been feeling some discomfort in the last few weeks. We had to look at it and we had to make a decision and the best one is to protect the player and get him back as quickly as possible, so we decided to do it.
“It’s something related to the previous injury that he had and the surgery. He had some irritation in the knee and we had to get it resolved.”
