Gabriel Jesus made a memorable start to life in an Arsenal shirt on Friday, coming off the bench to score twice in a 5-3 win over Nurnberg in a friendly in Germany.
The Gunners were 2-0 down when the striker came on at half-time and he netted in less than two minutes, before scoring again with 15 minutes to play.
The result clearly means very little in , but it was a brilliant start for Jesus in terms of morale, confidence and in getting Arsenal fans even more excited about his arrival.
The 25-year-old is speaking very positively about life at Arsenal already and has thanked everyone at the club for the warmest of welcomes since arriving from earlier this summer.
‘I’m so, so proud. I’m proud to be here at this big club,’ he told Arsenal club media.
‘I’ve completed four or five days together with the lads, and I just want to say thank you to everyone at because they make me feel at home. Everyone is talking, coming to me and saying “good luck, we are happy to have you here”, and I’m happy to be here as well. That makes me feel at home.’
On his current fitness levels, Jesus says all is good although his new child is keeping him up at night, but that is not stopping him getting very excited about getting stuck in at Arsenal.
‘I’m feeling good,’ he said. ‘Sometimes it’s hard because I had more than 20 days without running, without doing anything, just trying to get some sleep with my new baby and my girlfriend!
‘I’ve just come to be part of this amazing club, amazing team, and then to win together,” he added. “I believe a lot in the project at this club. I can’t wait to play, at our amazing stadium.’
Mikel Arteta was revelling in the performance of his new signing, convinced that he will be watching Jesus find the back of the net on a regular basis when the season gets underway.
‘He’s all energy. You see his enthusiasm, he’s always smiling, he’s always talking to his teammates and apart from that I think he brings a different level of desire and commitment and enthusiasm, so I think it’s really good,’ said the Spaniard.
‘That’s why we brought him here, to put the ball in the back of the net and obviously for his confidence and for him to believe in what we are doing I think it’s really important and he’s settled really well.
‘I know him really well because I worked with him before and I know that there’s not going to be any issue there.’
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