It is being reported Chelsea are considering making a move for wantaway Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus.
Originally, it was claimed that Arsenal were keen on putting pen to paper on a deal for the 25-year-old, however Thomas Tuchel’s side are rumoured to be interested in a move for Brazilian now, according to AS Sport today.
Jesus is fresh off winning his fourth Premier League trophy under Pep Guardiola, but the imminent signing of Erling Haland may leave him surplus to requirements.
This season, the Brazil international showed his flexibility in moving to the right-hand-side for City, as the eventual league champions elected for a false nine formation for the majority of the campaign.
At Stamford Bridge, Tuchel has looked to implement a similar system at time, to differing levels of success.
As Romelu Lukaku’s form dipped, Kai Havertz was trusted with central role in attack, with his technical ability on the ball naturally lending him to finding space deeper. While this is a positive for a team more suited to build up play involving wing-backs, it was those in front of the likes of Reece James and Marcos Alonso who need to adapt to the system.
Mason Mount’s importance to Chelsea should never be underestimated, however his style of play doesn’t always flourish with a striker who drops deep to get the ball. It’s why England fans are yet to see the best of the 23-year-old, with Harry Kane always keen to pick the ball up pretty much anywhere.
Essentially, Mount likes to do a similar job: find pockets of space and drive his team forwards, often interfering with the central man in this version of a front three.
Jesus is different. The Brazilian spent the majority of his time last season sticking to the right flank, whilst also getting himself frequently into goal scoring positions a lot of Chelsea’s attackers simply don’t do.
This wouldn’t have to remove the back-to-back Chelsea player of the season out of the equation either. When Ben Chilwell was fit, the pair had struck up an understanding whenever they had combined on the left, notably combining for the Champions League final winning goal in 2021.
While it may spell danger for the likes of Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech in terms of first team opportunities, signing Jesus would create an opportunity to build a trio which complement each other well, potentially helping close the gap, at least in terms of goals scored, to City and Liverpool.