Gabriel Jesus defies Mikel Arteta with Brazil decision after Arsenal absence

13 November 2023 , 21:57

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Gabriel Jesus defies Mikel Arteta with Brazil decision after Arsenal absence

Gabriel Jesus has joined up with Brazil ahead of their upcoming internationals despite Mikel Arteta stating he shouldn't be picked.

The Arsenal forward hasn't played for his club for almost three weeks as he deals with an injury issue. He sustained a hamstring problem during the Gunners' Champions League win at Sevilla on October 24 and has not be included in a matchday squad since.

The Brazilian has been working on his recovery and had to deal with a watching berth at the weekend as Arsenal saw off Burnley at the Emirates. Despite that Brazil have called him up and their medical team will decide whether or not he can feature during the international break.

Arteta recently suggested Jesus needed more time to recover when asked about playing for his country. He told ESPN : "I don’t know. I’m going to talk to the doctors and him because he didn’t do any training with us. He’s far from working with the team, but it’s an internal communication between the club and the national team. The first intention is always to seek the best for the player."

Arsenal have been able to keep Martin Odegaard in the capital with their skipping nursing issues around his hip and concussion. It means he will miss Norway’s fixtures against the Faroe Islands and Scotland, but is expected to make a playing return once the Premier League resumes.

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FIFA rules state countries are entitled to call up players and assess their injuries themselves with Brazil opting to bring Jesus into the squad before making their own decision.

Gabriel Jesus picked up a muscle issue against Sevilla (Getty Images)

Boss Fernando Diniz said: "In the last call-up, we hadn't called up [Gabriel] Martinelli, from Arsenal. He didn't report to the CBF (Brazilian Football Federation) in a very complete way, so we didn't imagine that Martinelli would be ready to play against Venezuela and Uruguay, and he was ready to play before our games.

"Because of this too, we are going to bring Gabriel [Jesus] to find out the real conditions. We believe that he can be able to play, because I like him a lot. We have 24 players on the list, and if something happens to him we won't need to change the squad."

Brazil will take on Colombia on Friday before they face arch rivals and current world champions Argentina the following Wednesday. They currently sit third in the World Cup qualifying group after failing to win in either of their recent internationals.

Samuel Meade