Jesus is now being outscored by Arsenal star who was sold for just £18m

It’s shaping up to be a brilliant season for Arsenal this year.

Mikel Arteta’s young squad have fought their way back to the summit of the Premier League and have a real chance of winning it and have booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals to boot.

The team seems to be firing on all cylinders at the moment, and with the return of Gabriel Jesus from injury, they could get even better.

However, there’s a former Arsenal man who’s on fire this season and is comfortably outscoring the Brazilian.

Gabriel Jesus’ performances this season

It’s been an odd campaign for the former Manchester City ace, as when he’s played, he’s generally looked excellent, but therein lies the problem: his fitness.

The São Paulo-born ace has missed 16 games this season thanks to a hamstring injury and three flareups of the knee problem he picked up at the 2022 World Cup.

It’s made it difficult for the 26-year-old to pick up any real momentum in the team, yet he’s still managed to score eight goals and provide five assists in the 26 appearances he has made.

Now, while his return of seven goal involvements in 19 league games is relatively impressive, it has been in Europe where he has shined the brightest, scoring four goals and providing two assists, meaning he’s averaging a goal involvement every game.

That sort of form will be essential if Arteta’s men are going to make it to Wembley on June 1st. However, it would be easier if they still had a former player within their ranks, a former player who has comfortably outscored Jesus this season.

The former Gooner in question is World Cup winner Olivier Giroud, who spent five and a half years at the Emirates between July 2012 and January 2018.

In 253 appearances for the Gunners, the Chambéry-born poacher scored 105 goals, provided 41 assists, and won three FA Cups and three Community Shields to boot. There was, of course, that simply stunning scorpion kick goal too. Remember that? Of course, you do.

He subsequently joined Chelsea for £18m in January 2018 after it was clear that his place in the starting XI was gone following the arrival of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

At Stamford Bridge, the Frenchman won another FA Cup, the Europa League, and the Champions League while scoring 39 goals and providing 14 assists in 119 appearances.

It was after the Champions League triumph that he made his most recent move, joining Italian giants AC Milan.

Olivier Giroud’s performance this season

The “outstanding” number nine, as former professional Danny Mills dubbed him, hit the ground running in Milan. In 38 games last term, he scored 14 goals and provided four assists, playing a massive part in the Rossoneri’s first Scudetto in 11 years.

Despite turning 36 at the start of the following campaign, the veteran striker found another level to his game and finished the year with 18 goals and seven assists in 47 appearances.

This season, the former Montpellier star has somehow done it again. With 14 goals and nine assists to his name in just 34 games, he looks set to beat his total from last year, which begs the question: How long can he keep going?

Ultimately, Arsenal’s reason for selling Giroud six years ago made sense, and Jesus is a fantastic player in his own right.

However, Arteta would surely love to have a player as experienced as Giroud in his relatively youthful squad.