‘He has a lot to offer’: Arteta rules out Jesus leaving in January
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He has scored six goals in his first 18 games, four of them in the Premier League and two in the UEFA Champions League.
Asked about his excitement over Gokeres joining the squad, Arteta explained: “Well, there are two things.”
“First of all, I was very excited, coincidentally, because we were bringing in a proven goalscorer with probably the best stats in Europe.
“And secondly, a player coming into a different league, the most demanding league in the world, what happens if he doesn’t score five or six goals (games)? That was my only question. What if he doesn’t score five, six goals (games)? Can he cope with that? And what happens in the next 100 games? That’s what you have to look at.”
“Again, the sample is very small. So leave him alone, let him do what he does best, stay behind him and I’m confident things will go in the right direction.”
Gokeres has shown glimpses of the form he produced last season, scoring 54 goals in 52 games for Sporting, including six in eight games in the Champions League.
But there is still work to be done if he is to fulfill Sporting’s full qualifications with 97 goals in 102 games.
On how to improve Gokeres’ form, Arteta said: “We have to work hard, understand what he needs more of and understand that he needs to adjust in order for him to be more prolific in this league, in our team, to be in more dangerous positions.”
“On Wednesday night (against Brugge), he also had two big chances and we gave him as much chance as possible in that position. He will definitely do what he wants to do, because he wants it too.”
Arsenal striker option ‘very strong’
Mikel Merino has played admirably in the No. 9 position in recent months following Gokeres’ injury, with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus also absent at the time.
But the Swede will be in for even more competition following Jesus’ return, as the Brazilian was on the pitch in Wednesday’s Champions League victory, marking his return from an 11-month injury to his anterior cruciate ligament.
Havertz’s return is not far off, with Arteta saying in early December that it was “a matter of a few weeks” before the German returned from his knee problem.
“Do you stack them?” Arteta joked when asked if Arsenal had the best attacking option in the division.
“I don’t know, I don’t like to compare, but I think we have very strong personnel in that position. That’s how we feed them together. It’s probably very, very difficult at the same time and it depends on the situation of the game, but I’m very happy with the players we have.”
“And hopefully so far we haven’t had them. In six months of the competition, we haven’t had those two (Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz) for anything and Victor (Gökeres) wasn’t even part of it. So hopefully we’re in that position.”
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Arsenal will face Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday 12th December.
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