Jesus ‘great and will get even better’

Brazil have hailed Gabriel Jesus as their “new Ronaldo” as they prepare for tonight’s friendly with England.

The visitors to Wembley are among the favourites for next summer’s World Cup in Russia, owing largely to the potent combination of Jesus and Neymar in the final third.

Since Tite’s appointment as manager in June 2016 Brazil have considerably improved, as was most recently seen in Friday’s 3-1 friendly defeat of Japan, when Jesus scored the third of their goals.

Their last World Cup victory was inspired by Ronaldo in 2002, but Jesus’s continued emergence for Manchester City and his country has increased optimism surrounding their chances, and their captain Dani Alves said: “I wasn’t joking when I called him the new Ronaldo.

“He’s already great and will get even better. For all that he’s done, all that he’s achieved, there’s no pressure. He’s doing what he loves.”

England have similar confidence in the abilities of Harry Kane, and Tite said: “City should be very pleased with Palmeiras and the coaches there who formed a player (Jesus) who is already at such a good level to the point he came here with a natural fluency.

“I already mentioned the mental capacity he has and his technical ability. He didn’t need much time to adapt, he was already showing a very good level.

“The characteristics of Gabriel Jesus and Kane are a bit different. Gabriel attacks the space, gives us that depth; Kane is more positional. They’re two strong strikers.

“Kane is a penalty box player with an impressive finishing ability. He’s good in the air, good with his right foot and left. It’s very impressive, he has a lot of quality.”