Speaking on The Done Deal Show, CBS journalist Ben Jacobs has been discussing Arsenal’s interest in Gabriel Jesus amid ongoing negotiations with Manchester City.
The Brazilian striker is a known target of Arsenal’s, but, as of yet, this transfer agreement hasn’t been struck.
According to Jacobs, there’s something of an impasse over the asking price for the ‘fantastic’ striker.
Manchester City value Jesus at £55m, but Arsenal pitched an opening offer of just £35m, pointing towards the fact that Liverpool sold Sadio Mane for a similar price to Bayern Munich in their attempts to get a discount.
What’s been said?
Jacobs spoke about Arsenal and the comparison they made to Mane.
“I believe that verbally, Arsenal and Manchester City have agreed on a fee. City originally priced Jesus at £55m, Arsenal tried to make a comparison with Sadio Mane and pitched an offer informally of closer to £35m, but Man City were having none of that, but they’re highly likely to compromise somewhere in the middle,” Jacobs said.
Fair value
Arsenal used Mane as an example in their attempts to get Jesus on the cheap, and that’s a smart strategy.
Jesus is a brilliant player, but Mane is a true superstar, and if the Senegalese winger is going for £35m, it’s ludicrous to suggest that Jesus is worth £20m more.
Of course, Jesus does have age on his side, but at the same time, he’s entering the final year of his contract, so £55m is rather steep.
Transfer market valuations are often very tough to gauge, but we can absolutely understand why Arsenal thought that they could get a discount on Jesus by pointing towards the Mane fee.
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