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Gabriel Jesus may play some part in Brazil’s upcoming World Cup qualifier against Argentina despite missing Arsenal’s last three Premier League games.
The 26-year-old has started just four of Arsenal’s 12 Premier League matches this season, with a hamstring injury following on from a knee problem that ruled Jesus out of early fixtures against Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace.
Jesus missed three months last season with a knee injury picked up at the 2022 World Cup, and a reoccurrence of that problem ruled him out for most of August.
But even though Jesus has been unable to take the field for Arsenal, Brazil manager Fernando Diniz deemed him fit enough to be called up for Brazil’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
He will not be in contention to face Colombia but Diniz has suggested that Jesus may return against fierce rivals Argentina – an appearance that may surprise Arsenal given manager Mikel Arteta said at the beginning of the month that the former Manchester City forward would be missing for at least a few weeks because of a hamstring issue.
“About Gabriel, my whole life’s work is not a concern in this sense with Arsenal or the national team,” he told reporters. “My concern is Gabriel. We brought him here for some reasons and that it was important to him. He was one of the players who even playing a match for us below our level in Uruguay, he managed to make a positive impact on the game, very difficult game but he got there.
“Play well, sustain position and create difficulty sometimes even kind of individually against Uruguay, I trust the player and him being here I take satisfaction.
“I talked to Gabriel and he didn’t come here without planning. He said he’s feeling good, he’s already doing certain things, and when I spoke to him we had two more weeks, 10 days at least till the first game [against Colombia] and 15 days ’til the second one [against Argentina]. He is in good condition, we are doing things with great care. As soon as he arrived we made a new MRI we [are] treating him very carefully.
“If he is in the right condition he will be available against Argentina,” Diniz said. “If not for Gabriel I’m sure it was very important for him to come here, and he will return to Arsenal better than when he got here.”
Arsenal will hope Jesus feels no ill-effects of a potential outing for the Selecao, with a hectic run of fixtures scheduled for the end of November and December.
