In a clash that’s shaping up to be the highlight of the Copa America 2024 quarterfinals, Brazil and Uruguay are set to square off in what many are billing as an early championship showdown. This eagerly anticipated matchup between two Conmebol titans promises to deliver pulsating action from start to finish.

Ahead of this pivotal duel, Brazil find themselves without key player like Vinicius Jr., leaving a void that players such as Gabriel Jesus would typically fill with aplomb. However, the current Arsenal forward will also be notably absent when the teams take the field for their quarterfinal clash.

Gabriel Jesus out of the quarter-final match against Uruguay

In a surprising move, Gabriel Jesus‘s omission from the squad has raised eyebrows. Contrary to popular belief, the decision is not linked to injuries, performance, or age. Instead, Brazilian coach Dorival Junior has made a tactical choice, extending beyond this quarterfinal matchup.

Gabriel Jesus wasn’t even included in the tournament roster. According to Dorival Junior, other players have been prioritized over the current Arsenal striker, underscoring the strategic depth and competition within the Brazilian team.

Gabriel Jesus was an important part of Tite’s team to win the championship in 2019, in fact, he scored one of the three goals in the final against Peru. He was also Brazil’s second top scorer in the tournament, behind Everton.

The 27-year-old striker has a total of 64 caps for his national team, scoring 19 goals and providing 13 assists. Despite this, Dorival Junior decided not to include him in the list for this tournament.

Gabriel Jesus out of Copa America 2024

Gabriel Jesus will be out of Brazil’s squad for Copa America 2024 due to a tactical decision by coach Dorival Junior. While Gabriel Jesus was part of the Qatar 2022 World Cup roster, Dorival chose a different direction for the team this year.

In Brazil, a generational shift is beginning to be seen, reflected in some of the new names in this team, such as João Gomes, Guilherme Arana, Savinho, and Ederson dos Santos, among others.

To conclude the current International break, Brazil hosted Argentina in one of the biggest rivalries in South American soccer. Both countries consistently aim to prove their prowess, and on this occasion, they both needed a win to climb up the rankings in the Qualifiers.

Unfortunately, the match faced a delay in starting. The stands of Maracana Stadium witnessed clashes between Brazilian and Argentine fans, prompting the Argentine players to seek safety by retreating to the locker rooms.

Gabriel Jesus uses a controversial gesture to mock Argentina players

In 2021, during the Qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Brazil hosted Argentina in Maracana Stadium. However, this game only lasted nearly five minutes, as it was stopped by Brazilian authorities.

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Brazilian health authorities jumped to the field to take Emiliano Martinez, Emiliano Buendia, Giovanni Lo Celso and Cristian Romero out of the match. They were accused of giving false information regarding the Covid-19 protocols and they received a deportation order.

The match got called off and the Argentina players exited the field. Two years later, the history repeated, and Gabriel Jesus taunted them for it. As his opponents made their way back to the field, the Brazilian striker gestured with two fingers, suggesting it was the second occasion they had walked off.

The Olympic gold medalist spoke to former FC Dallas DP flop Denilson on his podcast, ‘Denilson Show’ where he gave the reason as to when he decided to leave Manchester City. It all came down to a decision that Pep Guardiola made.

When the obsessive coach made that decision, Gabriel Jesus was driven to tears, and it was the “last straw” and the talented forward knew it was time for a change of scenery.

Pep Guardiola made Gabriel Jesus cry

Speaking to Denilson the Arsenal forward stated, “There was a Champions League game, PSG, at home, in which he put [Oleksandr] Zinchenko as a false 9. Crazy thing,” Jesus said. “The day before, he didn’t even use him [Zinchenko] in training, he had put me in as a striker… Zinchenko even joked with me: ‘that day I felt bad for you.’

“Two hours before the game, there’s a team talk, the team eats, rests for 30 minutes and goes to the game. He told us the team… I didn’t even eat. I went straight to the room, crying, I called my mother to talk: ‘I want to leave.’ I’m going home, because he put him [Zinchenko] on, and he didn’t put me on. He put a left-back there. I went crazy.”

“I didn’t warm up,” Jesus added. “I felt bad. Five minutes after [Kylian] Mbappe scored the goal for 1-0, he [Guardiola] called me. I gave an assist and scored; we turned it around 2-1. In the next [Champions League] game [a 2-1 win at RB Leipzig], I thought I was going to play, and I didn’t play.

“There was a lot of that with him [Guardiola], and it’s not easy. But one [player] evolves. It is really hard. That’s when I decided, I didn’t want to stay anymore. And I decided to leave.”

Over the past couple of years, Jesus’ development kind of stalled, up to the point that he was demoted in City’s pecking order, and he wound up leaving to join Arsenal. Still, he was featured on Tité’s side Every time Brazil had to play.

That’s why some people were shocked to see that Gabriel Jesus was nowhere to be found in the starting XI or the subs in today’s must-win quarterfinalmatch vs. Croatia. So, here we’ll let you know why’s that.

Qatar 2022: Why Isn’t Gabriel Jesus Playing For Brazil?

Gabriel Jesus wasn’t starting for Brazil. Instead, Tité was featuring Vinicius Jr., Neymar, Richarlison, and Raphina as his fourth guys leading the offense. Still, the Arsenal star was ausual sub for the five-time World Cup champions.

However, the 25-year-old Sao Paulo native just suffered a major knee injury that could keep him on the sidelines for the remainder of the season. Unfortunately, that put an early end to the ultimate tournament for him.

Though he still has an entire season ahead of him, the Brazilian striker is already starting to prove his new boss right. After recording an impressive seven goals in preseason, Jesus kept up with his good work at the start of the 2022-23 Premier League.

Following a great debut in the win over Crystal Palace, he netted a brace to help Arsenal beat Leicester in the second game of the season. Hisgreat displays drew praise from fellowBrazilian legend Ronaldinho, who said that City didn’t treat Jesus the way they he deserved.

Ronaldinho says Arsenal are showing Gabriel Jesus the love that City didn’t

“When Gabriel joined Manchester City I said he would go on to be one of the best players in the world,” Ronaldinho told The Mirror. “When he was given a chance, he showed what he was capable of – but at Manchester City he was never shown the love a player of his quality deserves.

“At Arsenal he has been given the chance to be the focal point, he has been shown the love by the coach and the fans, and already he is repaying that. This season I expect big things from him – he will repay the love shown in him by showing he is not just one of the best players in the Premier League but also in Europe.”

Despite being signed from Palmeiras for $35m when he was only 19, Jesuswas never the first-choice striker at City. Pep Guardiola often preferred not to play with an outright No. 9, limiting Jesus’ playing time.

This summer, the Citizens were open to letting him go after landing Norwegian sensation Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund. Arteta, who knew Jesus from his time as Pep’s assistant coach, saw the chance to improve his Arsenal squad with him and he seized it. It’s still too early to tell, but it looks like he made the right decision.

Manchester City finished winners of the Premier League after a tight race against Liverpool all season long by one point. In the Champions League it was a shock elimination against Real Madrid that left many pundits believing that Guardiola’s time at the club could be up.

Guardiola since then has doubled down and with the arrival of Haaland and Argentina’s number 9 Julián Álvarez, the club has their striker tandem set for the next decade if all goes well. Still, Guardiola and City are not done in the transfer window although they have made a decision on two current players, as they are willing to sell them.

Gabriel Jesus

According to 90min, Gabriel Jesus has been on the selling block for a few weeks now with no real offers. Gabriel Jesus has voiced his desire to leave the club and with Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Juventus and AC Milan all lining up to sign the striker, it is reported that Jesus does not know exactly where he wants to go next.

Gabriel Jesus has been at City since 2017 and has 95 goals in over 200 games, winning 10 championships at the club.

Raheem Sterling

Raheem Sterling has always been something of an enigma at Manchester City, never really living up to his billing, the England winger has healthy numbers but never truly dominated like he was supposed to.

Real Madrid and Juventus are two clubs interested in Sterling outside of England while Chelsea and Tottenham are two Premier League clubs looking to get in on the winger. Sterling is reported to be turning down Manchester City’s next contract proposal and said move will indicate a move outside of the club.

It is difficult to imagine that any starting player will leave Real Madrid, however, the Spanish team will lose several bench players, and that is why La Casa Blanca need to sign new players. Marcelo, Gareth Bale, and Isco will leave the club as free agents on 1 July, in addition, Real Madridare looking to sell or loan Luka Jovic, Mariano, and Jesus Vallejo. And the future of other players is still uncertain.

Real Madrid already signedAntonio Rudiger as a free agent from Chelsea (signed a contract for 4 seasons), and the club has also agreed to sign Aurelien Tchouamenifor 100,000,000 euros from Monaco. Furthermore, Real Madrid seek to sign a striker, and rumors indicate that the chosen ones are Gabriel Jesus, Richarlison, or Sterling. However, the club would not be able to sign them but not because of a financial problem.

Real Madrid would not be able to sign Gabriel Jesus, Sterling or Richarlison

Real Madrid have long been dragging a problem: they havemany foreigners and few gaps. A clog of non-EU citizen players is hindering the planning of next season. According to La Liga regulations, the Spanish league allows three non-EU players on the pitch, and those places are and will be for Militao, Vinicius Junior, and Rodrygo.

A non-EU national is not just any foreigner; they are those from America, Asia, or Europe outside the EU (for example, the UK). Real Madrid need their players to stop being non-EU citizens, and for that, soccer players need to have a Spanish passport. To do so, a player must meet exactly the same requirement as any other citizen: he must have been living in Spain for ten years. This figure is reduced by two years for those coming from Latin America, Andorra, the Philippines, or Equatorial Guinea.

Vinicius Juniorbegan the procedures to obtain dual citizenship in 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic arrived and delayed the process. According to reports, the Brazilian’s data is in the queue of the Spanish Ministry of Justice along with more than 300,000 other people. In a year, the agency approves between 50 and 60 thousand passports.

The nearest case at Real Madrid was when Federico Valverde received dual citizenship in 2019, allowing the signing of Rodrygo. So, as long as El Merengue cannot solve this problem, they will not be able to sign Jesus, Sterling, Richarlison, or any other non-EU player.

Pep Guardiola has been trying to deliver the highly desired UEFA Champions League trophy all these years, but failed to succeed. Following a painful loss to Chelsea in the 2021 final, the Citizens came close to a consecutive trip to the final this season but suffered another heartbreaking defeat, this time to Real Madrid.

Still, the future is bright for City. With Erling Haaland on board for next season, they hope to finally have what it takes to lift the coveted continental trophy. His arrival, however, would force them to sell players.

Report: Real Madrid, Arsenal know the price to pay for Man City star

With Haaland and River Plate star Julian Alvarez joining the City roster this summer, the club would consider to sellGabriel Jesus. The Brazilian forward has attracted interest from other clubs and wouldn’t have much room with Haaland ahead of him.

But according to Marca, Manchester City will demand around €50 million to part ways with the 25-year-old. Jesus is a dynamic player, who can either play as a center forward or as a winger.

Arsenal have been heavily linked with Jesus, given that their only striker for next season at this point would be Eddie Nketiah – Alexandre Lacazette will leave as a free agent in July. But with no Champions League football next year, it remains to be seen whether Jesus would be interested.

The report adds that Real Madrid have emerged as a potential destination for the Brazil international, as Carlo Ancelotti is understood to be an admirer. If Vinicius Junior finally gets his European citizenship, it would make room for another foreign player.

According to the Financial Times, the English top flight is set to take in £3.1 billion from television rights this season, compared to just £1.8b earned by La Liga and a similar sum for the Bundesliga. And next season will see that number rise to £3.4b for the Premier League, while Spanish football’s deal is set to fall to just £1.6b. And that disparity is clear to see when we look at which leagues are spending the most amount of money.

Just so far, Manchester City have made the most expensive signing ahead of the 2022-2023 season. The Citizens signed Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund in exchange for 75,000,000 euros. In this context, with the signing of the Norwegian and Julian Alvarez, the future of Manchester City’s remaining strikers is in doubt, which is why Arsenal are reportedly trying to sign Gabriel Jesus.

Arsenal’s plan to sign Gabriel Jesus

Arsenal are no longer the world power they once were a few years ago, but since Mikel Arteta became first-team coach, the club has regained some of its identity. Ahead of next season, Alexandre Lacazette will leave Arsenal, and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang is no longer part of the team. That is why Arteta intends to sign a quality striker, and the chosen player would be Gabriel Jesus (his contract with City expires in June 2026).

The Gunners’ big problem is that they have not qualified for the 2021-2022 UEFA Champions League and that could play against them in signing quality players. Most players choose to play in the UCL rather than the UEFA Europa League. However, Arsenal would have a plan to convince Jesus to join them.

The Sun claims Jesus is interested in making the switch to the capital, and talks have already occurred with his agent, Marcelo Pettinati, and Arsenal. The Brazilian striker is also being followed by teams from Spain and Italy, and to sign him, the English club would be willing to double the salary he currently earns at Manchester City.

The 25-year-old earns £110,000 per week, and Arsenal would offer him £190,000 per week. In addition, there would be bonuses included in his contract. If the deal between Arsenal and Jesus goes through, the Gunners will have to negotiate with Manchester City, and it is believed the Citizens will demand £50 million to sell the player.

While Barcelona has high ambitions, with names ranging from Darwin Nunez, Robert Lewandowski, and a near impossible chase for Erling Haaland, the price tag attached to those players make negotiations difficult for the Catalan giants. Lewandowski given his age and desire to possibly leave Bayern Munich could make things “easier” for a deal, which could also include a loan, but Nunez and Haaland seem almost completely off the table.

It is with Erling Haaland where Barcelona may indirectly sign their next forward. Haaland is expected to join Manchester City next season, and this could make Barcelona’s latest target surplus: Gabriel Jesus.

Gabriel Jesus to Barcelona?

Gabriel Jesus continues to contribute for Manchester City, scoring a goal in their 2-2 draw with Liverpool and going 83 minutes most recently. In total this season the 25-year-old Brazilian has played 22 Premier League games with 3 goals and 8 assists.

Gabriel Jesus has been at City since 2017 and has 89 goals in 228 matches. Given the possible arrival of Haaland and the signing of River Plate and Argentine national team player Julián Álvarez, Jesus’ time may dwindle sooner rather than later.

With the 2022 World Cup looming the Brazilian international may want to have more playing team and that is where Barcelona could step in. Valued at 50 million Euros, according to MARCA, Barcelona could pay a €30 million transfer fee.

Barcelona has a number of forwards that may leave the club this offseason from Luuk de Jong (on loan), Ousmane Dembélé, and Martin Braithwaite on the chopping block. Plus, rumors of a potential sale of Sergiño Dest could open up space to bring in Gabriel Jesus.

Gabriel Jesus has won a total of 9 titles with Manchester City, who along with Liverpool, are in a direct fight to see who will win the Premier League title this season.