Knee Surgery: 'I Don’t Know When Gabriel Jesus Will Be Back' – Arteta
Mikel Arteta will wait to see how Gabriel Jesus recovers from knee surgery before deciding on making a new big-name signing in next month's transfer window
Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta has admitted he doesn’t know how long Gabriel Jesus will be unavailable for, after the striker underwent knee surgery.
The 25-year-old suffered the injury during Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Cameroon last Friday at the 2022 World Cup.
Some reports claim Jesus could be out for at least three months, but the Gunners are refusing to put a timescale on his return as yet.
When Arteta was asked about Jesus’ return date after a 3-0 win over Lyon in Dubai, he said: “No. Obviously we know that, he needed some intervention in the knee, and we will have to take (it) day-by-day, week-by-week and see, where it takes us.”
Arteta has Eddie Nketiah as back-up for Jesus, while Gabriel Martinelli can also fill in at centre-forward if required.
The Arsenal boss was asked if he would bring in another striker in January.
He replied: “So what we can do after that, when we know a little bit the timescale and when we can have him back, we will look at the options, and try to make the right decision.”