How Gabriel Jesus can invent himself as a Man City winger

Gabriel Jesus was the prominent player when Manchester City beat Norwich 5-0 in their first Premier League home game of the season, but as a winger than “number nine”.

Far earmarked as a potential replacement for Sergio Aguero, Jesus has scored 82 goals in four and a half seasons since joining City as a teenager in January 2017 but has never looked consistently convincing as a central striker.

These doubts about whether he is suspended for the role meant that he started just over half of City’s Premier League matches as a striker last season, with Pep Guardiola often choosing a winger or midfielder in a “false nine” role in the second half of games. and in Europe.

Aguero was injured, lacked fitness or simply unfanked for most of the campaign, which proved to be his last with the club, and it was therefore Jesus’ chance to bet that he would be City’s main striker at least for the next few years. He’s 24 and has not yet reached his peak, he just did not take it.

Instead, City have considered an expensive transfer training to fill the void and had Erling Haaland and Romelu Lukaku on the radar before turning their focus to Harry Kane.

Whether they manage to land Kane during the remaining two weeks of the transfer window depends on how willing they are to offer and whether it violates Tottenham’s refusal to sell.

Of course, the search for a new striker has led to uncertainty about Jesus’ future in Manchester. And yet it could be that he can take a new path as a winger to extend his stay at the club and become an important player, if his performance against Norwich is something to go after.

Jesus played from the right and was Man City’s best player against Norwich / Shaun Botterill / Getty Images

Jesus is no stranger to playing wide. He has done it sporadically before and actually scored in consecutive victories over Fulham and Leicester as a start on the left flank last season.

When City and Norwich made their way to the Etihad pitch on Saturday afternoon, Ferran Torres was placed through the middle and Jesus lined up on the right wing, where he proved to be a constant threat.

Norwich, it must be said, was poor. The Canaries were naive in how they tried to play, which made it easy for City to win back the ball high up on the pitch and in midfield and take advantage of the gaps. But Jesus showed outstanding wing play and brought out the assistants.

It was his driven cross into the penalty area in the early stages that led to the goal of breaking the deadlock. It will not go down in his official stats, but his low cross turned in by Jack Grealish and his square ball to Raheem Sterling does. He could even have had another assist, which put Torres through, but the goal was descended after a VAR review for a foul in the build-up.

INCREDIBLE! ?

⚽️ @EASPORTSFIFA? #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klD5re pic.twitter.com/2ZsvhmHa4O

– Manchester City (@ManCity) 21 August 2021

Jesus had the ability and pace to strike his mark again and again. Norwich even replaced his left-back at half-time and it did little to stop him. When Riyad Mahrez came on for City in the second half, Jesus switched to the left flank and offered a different kind of threat there.

If City sit in the top nine, for example Kane, before the transfer deadline, the kind of service that Jesus provided over 90 minutes against Norwich would be perfect.

It may have been the role he was destined for when he arrived, but Jesus has a chance to reinvent himself to make sure he becomes an important part of the next city chapter.

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