No striker would want one of their team’s defenders to replace them up front.
But one Premier League star went through exactly that in the Champions League, and he’s revealed it left him in tears on the phone to his mum.
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Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus spent a large chunk of last season on the sidelines recovering from his knee injury sustained at the 2022 World Cup, but he was otherwise in fine form as the Gunners No.1 striker.
However this time just under two years ago, Jesus was looking to leave a club after being unable to secure guaranteed game time – reigning Premier League champions Manchester City.
Club legend and prolific goalscorer Sergio Aguero had left the summer before for Barcelona, leaving the floor open for Jesus to step up into his role.
But it wasn’t that easy for the Brazilian, who has now revealed the how much his struggle to get into the starting XI impacted him.
Speaking to the Denilson Show hosted by former Brazil international Denilson, Jesus said: “There was a game he [Guardiola] put Zinchenko false nine. Champions League, PSG at home. Crazy.
“The day before, he didn’t even put Zinchenko there in training, he put me at striker. Then the other day, Zinchenko even joked with me, ‘That day I felt bad for you’.
“Two hours before the game, there’s a team talk, the team eats, rests and goes.
“He [Guardiola] gave the team, I didn’t even eat. I went crying, I called my mother, ‘I want to leave’. I’m going home, because he put him on and not me. He put a left-back there.
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“I went crazy. I didn’t warm up. I wouldn’t, with a cool head, I wouldn’t. I stayed. I was bad. The game turned 0-0. With five minutes, [Kylian] Mbappe scored, 1-0. He [Guardiola] called me. I gave an assist and scored, we turned it 2-1.”
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However Jesus’s heroics still weren’t enough to guarantee him his place in the starting XI.
“In the other game, I thought I was going to play,” Jesus explained, “I didn’t.
“There was a lot of that with him, it’s not easy. But the player evolves. It is really hard. That’s where I decided, I didn’t want to stay anymore. And I decided to leave.”
Zinchenko made the switch to Arsenal with Jesus last summer, with both players being key in the Gunners’ push for the title.
But Guardiola ended up with the win again as he claimed his fifth Premier League trophy.
