Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted Gabriel Jesus’ knee injury is “not looking good,” with sources telling ESPN the club fear he will miss the remainder of the season.
The Athletic reported on Tuesday that Jesus suffered a ruptured ACL during Arsenal’s penalty-shootout defeat to Manchester United.
“We know more now. It is not looking good at all. We need to review with one more specialist and will have better information this afternoon,” Arteta told a news conference ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League game with Tottenham.
When asked to confirm whether Jesus had suffered an ACL injury, Arteta said: “I don’t want to confirm anything until we have the final report this afternoon. We were very worried after the game and we are very worried today.”
The Arsenal forward left the pitch in the 40th minute following an innocuous coming together with United captain Bruno Fernandes.
The injury is the opposite knee to the one in which he suffered an ACL injury in 2022.
Arteta was asked whether Arsenal are now under pressure to sign a replacement for Jesus.
“My answer doesn’t change,” the Spaniard said. “We are actively looking into the market to improve the squad. We always have been. It would be naive not too. We are looking and we are trying, so let’s see what we can do.
“To recruit a player there are three parties who have to agree to that. The fact I love my players doesn’t mean we can’t think about improving. We do daily and when the market comes around we have to make sure we have the best resources and capacity to compete the way that we want to.”
Jesus had just recently hit goalscoring form, netting his first league goals of the season when scoring a double against Crystal Palace in December, and scored another in a win over Brentford on New Year’s Day.
He also scored a hat trick against Palace in a League Cup quarterfinal game last month.
It is the latest long-term injury among Arsenal’s starters, with Bukayo Saka (hamstring), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Ben White (knee) all sitting out for long spells on the sidelines.
Ethan Nwaneri and Riccardo Calafiori are also out, both suffering from muscle injuries.
Regarding Calafiori’s injury, Arteta said: “His thing is not too much. We need another day or two, [the next] 24 hours become really important. We will have more understanding this afternoon.”
Information from ESPN’s James Olley and Reuters contributed to this report.
