It would be a mistake for Gabriel Jesus to play again for Manchester City this season.
Pain in the Arsenal
Goal reports that Manchester City talisman Gabriel Jesus aims to step on the pitch again before the 2017 campaign is done.
The Brazilian teenager made quite the impression, scoring three times in four appearances before breaking his metatarsal against Bournemouth.
After surgery and a recovery picking up speed, Goal asserts Jesus might return for the last couple matches of the season.
Ah, the joys of being young — young and foolish.
It’s an unnecessary risk for a talented played pegged both as comparable to Neymar and Sergio Aguero‘s successor
The season is basically over for City. The Citizens are out of the Champions League. The Premier League title is Chelsea’s.
It’s true the FA Cup is available to be taken and nestled within Ferran Soriano’s office trophy case. However, outside of that and making sure City doesn’t flop out of the top four, there isn’t much to play for.
All that realistically could happen is that key footballers — many of whom have international duties this summer by which they could get also hurt — suffer injuries.
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I get it though. It’s understandable for both City fans and Jesus to want to lace up his cleats again.
Jesus said (via Goal quoting an interview in SporTV):
"It’s my first injury. Not muscle injury, but it’s the first time something happens that leaves me out of games. So it was not easy."
So it’s easy to see he’s chomping at the bit to further prove himself to Pep Guardiola and his teammates. Jesus is an electrifying player, and any lover of the beautiful game wants to be electrified by him again.
And he will. He’s young and the real deal. It’s only a matter of time. He and the City’s physios need to just give it to him. Don’t play on that foot until it’s healed.
Admittedly, I’m no doctor, but a broken foot in the bone sounds like something you need to stay off of. Training and then playing seems a way to turn that break into a lingering injury, a stress fracture.
And if that isn’t convincing of an argument, I’ve got two words for you: Vincent. Kompany.
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City and its fans can’t take another round of torture of a critical player returning for a few matches before disappearing indefinitely for it just to occur again and again.
So take the season, no, take the offseason off, Gabriel.
A rising star, it behooves City to not have him go supernova before he really, really shines.