Txiki proving smooth operator in market
WITH a strike rate of four goals in as many Premier League starts, Pep Guardiola is right to wonder how different the season might have been with a fully fit Gabriel Jesus.
City are undefeated whenever the Brazilian international has been on the pitch – seven games in total.
It is too small a sample to draw conclusions about the impact he could have made in an entire campaign – or even the second half of the season, had he not fractured his metatarsal less than two months after his January arrival from Palmeiras.
But the 19-year-old’s remarkable statistics are enough to provide a significant source of encouragement for Guardiola. “His impact was instant, so great in a tough league like here,” said the City manager. “But he could only play three weeks. He has his instinct. So always I will have that thing in my mind, what would have happened if we had been able to have Jesus all season?”
Jesus has become a beacon of hope in what has been such an underwhelming campaign for City.
But perhaps no one is more satisfied with his arrival than Txiki Begiristain.
City’s director of football has come in for intense criticism for a series of expensive flops – from Wilfried Bony to Eliaquim Mangala.
But in Jesus, he struck a deal for Brazil’s No9 ahead of Europe’s giants Barcelona, Real Madrid and United – and still got change out of £30m.
Better still for Begiristain and City is the fact that Jesus was one of a series of impressive signings over the past couple of years that have marked a dramatic improvement in the club’s recruitment strategy.
Begiristain was developing a reputation for spending lavishly, but delivering little in the transfer market. The £42m signing of Mangala the most embarrassing of all.
But the acquisitions of Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane, John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan and Jesus over the past two summer windows have been as impressive as any since the early recruitment drives under Sheikh Mansour’s ownership. In most of those cases, City would expect to make a profit if selling them on, even £55m record signing De Bruyne.
It bodes well in terms of the pressure on Begiristain – who was also key to luring Guardiola from Bayern Munich. But also for City ahead of a summer when they could spend up to £200m to overhaul a squad that is fighting to secure Champions League football next season. Begiristain will not be expected to pick off bargains – with £50m Alexis Sanchez and £40m Kyle Walker on Guardiola’s wanted list – but he will have to provide players capable of turning City into genuine Premier League title challengers. He simply cannot afford to get this one wrong, with Guardiola entering the second season of his three-year contract and the club’s Abu Dhabi owners unlikely to tolerate another trophyless campaign. The case Jesus, suggests he might just get it right.