Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus has revealed the incident that made him leave Manchester City after five-and-a-half years at the Etihad.
The Brazilian striker was a valuable part of Pep Guardiola’s side as they won four Premier League titles, scoring 95 goals in his 236 appearances for the Cityzens.
But he decided to leave City last summer, joining Arsenal to play under Man City’s former assistant coach Mikel Arteta.
He was pivotal last season as Arsenal competed for the Premier League title with City despite spending an extended spell on the sidelines due to injury.
Jesus scored eleven goals and registered a further eight assists during his 33 matches for the North London club.
Speaking to the Denilson Show podcast, the 26-year-old shared that a changed role in Man City’s squad had forced his hand and made him consider playing elsewhere.
“There was a Champions League game, PSG at home, in which (Guardiola) put Zinchenko as a false nine. Crazy thing,” Jesus said.
“The day before, he didn’t even use (Zinchenko) in training. He had put me in as a striker.
“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 for 30 minutes and goes to the game. He told us the team; I didn’t even eat.
“I went straight to the room, crying; I called my mother to talk: “I want to leave.”
“I’m going home because he put (Zinchenko) on, and he didn’t put me on. He put a left-back there. I went crazy.”
“There was a lot of that with (Guardiola), and it’s not easy. It is really hard,” he added.
“That’s when I decided I didn’t want to stay anymore, and I decided to leave.”
