Brazilian side Palmeiras made an ambitious move for Arsenal forward Gabriel Jesus, but it was firmly rejected by the Premier League side.
Jesus came through the youth ranks at Palmeiras and made his professional debut for the club in March 2015.
He quickly caught the eye of Manchester City and moved to the Etihad in January 2017 where he won four Premier League titles.
The Brazil international was a big signing for Arsenal when they brought him in back in 2022, but after an encouraging first season things have tailed off quite badly.
The 27-year-old managed just eight goals in all competitions over the last campaign and is yet to get off the mark this season, struggling to get into Mikel Arteta’s starting XI.
Palmeiras looked to pounce on the situation, as confirmed by club president Leila Pereira, but the approach was rebuffed.
‘Gabriel Jesus is not coming,’ Pereira said,’ via ESPN.
‘We got in touch with Arsenal, and they said “Leila, there are no conditions whatsoever. We are not going to negotiate the player.” The subject is closed.’
Arteta has backed Jesus after an impressive pre-season, saying he has been hampered by injury, but also says the striker needs to ‘earn the right’ to be in the team again.
‘He was flying in pre-season and unfortunately he got that injury straight away that affected him for a few weeks,’ said Arteta of Jesus last week.
‘He put again a lot of work into it to come back and now he needs to get the rhythm. He’s playing a few games, he’s started two games in a row vs Atalanta and Bolton, he’s come on against Southampton.
‘So yeah, he’s there. Now he needs to earn the right to play more. He’s got our full support, he’s a player that can play in various positions and he’s a really important player for us.’
The Brazilian will hope to get another chance to shine on Wednesday when the Gunners go to Preston North End in the Carabao Cup.
Kai Havertz has been trusted with playing up front most regularly by Arteta and he has scored the most goals in the squad, with six in all competitions.
There have been no prolific scorers so far this season, though, with Bukayo Saka’s four in all competitions the next best return and no other players managing more than two.