(Football news) Arsenal and Brazil striker Gabriel Jesus will miss the first few weeks of the season after undergoing a ‘surgery’ on a knee ailment, according to manager Mikel Arteta; the condition is related to an injury that kept the forward out for the majority of the second half of last season.
Arteta revealed following Arsenal’s penalty shootout victory over Monaco to win the Emirates Cup on Wednesday that the Brazilian forward had a “procedure” on his knee.
“Unfortunately, he had a little procedure this morning,” Arteta said. “He’s had some discomfort in his knee that caused him some issues so they had to go in. It’s not something major but he’s going to be out for a few weeks.
“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 but unfortunately we lost him.
“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 quick as possible. We decided to do it.”
The Arsenal manager also stated that Jesus’ recent setback was related to a previous knee injury suffered during the World Cup last year, which forced him to miss the majority of the second half of the season.
“He had some irritation in the knee and we had to get it resolved,” Arteta added.
The 26-year-old started Arsenal’s previous pre-season friendly, a 5-3 triumph over Barcelona in the United States on Thursday, and played 79 minutes before Arteta singled him out for praise after the game.
With Arsenal a player short in attack ahead of the start of the season, Arteta was questioned if the future of Folarin Balogun, who is desired by Inter Milan this summer, might change, but the Gunners boss was emphatic that Jesus’ injury would have no bearing on his transfer plans.
Inter continue to pursue a move for Balogun, with one source informing Sky Sports that a formal proposal will be made in the coming days.
“The plans with Flo [Balogun] don’t change at all but unfortunately with Gabby we’re not going to have him,” Arteta said. “We have other options to play with different qualities of players and we will adapt.”
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