In another unexpected move, Barça makes a move in the forward line and signs Gabriel Jesus. The 29-year-old Brazilian joins the Blaugrana team for the next three seasons as a great offensive resource for Hansi Flick. And it is not about a pure goalscorer, but rather a forward with many interesting tactical components for what the coach is looking for. This is his football profile:
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Football profile
1) Mobile and adaptable attacker
Gabriel Jesus is a forward with constant runs and little involvement with the ball. He is the complete opposite of a positional number nine. He is one of those attackers who find constant mobility as one of their main football virtues. Precisely for this reason, and although nine is his most natural position, he has also played starting from a flank or in systems with two strikers. This is his heat map from the last two seasons.
Virtues
1) Technical skills and great first touch
He has technical quality. Although he has the tools and resources for it, he does not use dribbling too much, but he frequently resorts to cutting inside and feints. In addition, he masters practically the entire repertoire of technical actions. He is excellent in oriented controls, precise in short and quick combinations, and has a fantastic first touch, both for controlling and finishing. Undoubtedly, one of his best virtues.
2) Magnificent pressing
He is very good at pressing, largely because he reads the jumps very well and has a very powerful lower body. But above all, because, like Raphinha, his pressing trajectories are magnificent: he always conditions the opponent’s action with good entry arcs. His years at Guardiola’s City have made him grow enormously in this aspect. In fact, the coach himself has always highlighted this facet of Gabriel Jesus.
Even this last season, in which he had very little competitive continuity, he contributed notably to the work without the ball. According to data from @adnaaaan433, the Brazilian is the second forward with the best pressing records among the five major European leagues among the nines who have played less than 900 minutes in the championship. A factor that, in Flick’s Barça, is decisive.
3) Touch the ball, exit and create spaces
He combines dynamism with tactical sense. He not only moves a lot around the field, but everything he does has a purpose. He drops back to receive to help the team progress and is very reliable in these types of situations. He plays with few touches and loses very few balls when he drops between the lines.
In addition, he usually provokes a “butterfly effect” in the more distant teammates because he generates many spaces. He knows how to read the timing of exits and, when he acts, he usually touches and goes away to free up zones. Something that, for example, wingers like Lamine, Gordon, Adeyemi, or even Raphinha can take great advantage of. He has an 81% pass accuracy.
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4) Good duality of runs
He is a footballer who understands the game and attacking spaces. He positions himself very well to be a real passing option, both in his own half and in the opponent’s territory. If the game is in an initial phase, he offers solutions by attacking the spaces behind the rival defenders. On the other hand, when there are no spaces because the team is very high and attacking positionally, he knows how to detect and penetrate the free lanes between defenders. These are the zones that, in football language, are called intervals between center-backs or between full-back and center-back.
5) A generous number nine
This is an aspect that has partly prevented him from having greater goal-scoring power, but it is worth highlighting that Gabriel Jesus is a center forward with a great ability to assist. He is not one of those finishers who sacrifice all plays to seek the finish, but he knows how to identify when the best option is the pass. In the 2021-22 season, he finished as the ninth-best assister in the Premier League, with eight assists, and in 2023-24, already at Arsenal, he recorded another eight in all competitions. In a team that generates as much as Barça, this can favor the collective offensive impact.
6) Ideal resource for Flick’s Barça style of play
All these factors mean that he does not arrive to be the main goalscorer of the Blaugrana team, but rather a rotation resource that adapts to what Flick is looking for. A player used to high rhythms, with a lot of mobility, adaptable, and a stronghold in the first line of pressing. Another piece that fits perfectly with the evolution and unpredictability that the Blaugrana coach wants to imprint on the team.
Doubts
1) Physical condition
He suffered a serious knee injury in 2025 that kept him out of the field for eleven months, to which his recent low activity must be added: he was only a starter in three of the 14 matches he played in the Premier League the previous season. He is fully recovered, but it is inevitable to maintain some question marks about his physical performance in the short term.
2) Goal-scoring ability
One of the biggest uncertainties is his relationship with scoring goals. He lacks a bit of precision in shots – only 41% go between the posts – and in none of his last six seasons, neither at Arsenal nor at City, has he surpassed 15 goals in all competitions. Still, he has always maintained relatively stable figures and in most of those seasons he has hovered around ten goals.
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