Mikel Arteta hails creativity & immediate impact of Gabriel Jesus

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Mikel Arteta hails creativity & immediate impact of Gabriel Jesus

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has hailed the immediate positive impact of £45m summer signing Gabriel Jesus, who scored again during a pre-season friendly against Everton.

Jesus netted twice on his unofficial debut in a friendly against Nurnberg earlier this month, but it is more than just goals that Arteta has been impressed with.

The former Manchester City forward’s overall creativity and work off the ball has particularly caught his new manager’s attention so far.

"He creates chaos, he creates uncertainty and he's always on your shoulder. He's always there to nick the ball off you, he's always in front of the goal. He's a real threat and this is what we need,” Arteta explained to the media after the Everton game in Baltimore.

"The moment we give the ball away he is straight away active and putting pressure and getting his team behind him,” the Gunners boss continued. “He has a lot of leadership skills, I can see straight away what he's doing with the boys and he's the type of guy that we want.

"He looks really sharp, really dynamic. [He's got] a really good understanding with his team-mates straight away. They are looking for him, he's generating chances, good connections around specific spaces we want to exploit with him especially, and we're really happy."

Jesus has taken Arsenal’s number nine shirt vacated by Alexandre Lacazette and is expected to be a central striker for the club, having primarily been utilised as a winger in Manchester last season.

“The way we would like to develop him, is in that position,” Arteta confirmed.