MIKEL ARTETA has fired a warning to star striker Gabriel Jesus.
That’s as the Brazilian closes in on a return from injury after three months out.
Jesus, 25, joined Arsenal in a £45million deal from Manchester City last summer.
And he made an immediate impact up top, scoring five goals in 14 games to send the Gunners top of the table.
However, Jesus is yet to play for Arsenal since November after suffering a knee injury at the World Cup.
The forward had to go under the knife to solve the issue.
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And he has since been recovering while watching the likes of Eddie Nketiah and Leandro Trossard fill his boots.
It’s now reckoned Jesus is about a fortnight away from returning to the matchday squad.
The Samba star has been training with teammates at their London Colney base.
And Arteta admits he can’t wait to welcome Jesus back into the fold permanently.
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However, the Arsenal boss admits his star man will not be granted an automatic berth back into the starting XI.
And Jesus will instead have to fight for his place after the Gunners continued to hold their lead at the top without him.
Arteta said: “He’s not far now. I don’t want to give a timeline but he is doing certain things with the team and certain things away from the team.
“He’s not very close but he’s not far at all. He is feeling better every day and feeling confident with the way the injury is evolving.
“We are in a good place with him. At the beginning we were pretty concerned and thankfully it wasn’t that bad.
“Gabi has bene through that before, his mentality is incredible and the team has done a really good job with him.
“We don’t know [exactly when he’s back]. He needs to do much more with the team.
“But let’s see how the next week, 10 days develop, and we will have a better picture after that.
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“[Straight back in the team?] Probably that would not be fair on him because when he was in the team he was phenomenal.
“But when he’s back like everybody else he’ll need to earn his place in the team.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
