Hansi Flick makes Gabriel Jesus confession after Arsenal dumped Brazilian striker on Barcelona

Barcelona striker Gabriel Jesus and manager Hansi Flick

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has admitted that he did not think that Gabriel Jesus was as good as he has proven to be after he signed him from Arsenal in the summer transfer window.

Arsenal sold Jesus to Barcelona on the final day of the summer transfer window.

According to Sky Sports, Barcelona paid Arsenal £8.6million and handed Jesus a contract until the summer of 2029.

Barcelona signed the Brazilian striker late in the window after spending much of the summer trying to sign Julian Alvarez from Atletico Madrid.

Atletico persistently refused to sell Alvarez, who is still at the Madrid club, leading Flick’s Barcelona to sign Jesus instead.

Jesus had injury problems during the latter part of his career at Arsenal and also had Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz ahead of him in the pecking order.

The striker has scored three goals in five matches in all competitions for Barcelona so far in his career.

One of those goals came in Barcelona’s 3-0 win against Getafe at Spotify Camp Nou in LaLiga last Saturday.

Barcelona will return to action on Tuesday evening when they take on Galatasaray away from home in Turkey in the Champions League.

Ahead of the game, Barcelona manager Flick has admitted that he has been taken aback by how good Jesus is and could start against Galatasaray.

Flick said about Jesus during a press conference on Monday: “He’s ready.

“Whether he plays, which we don’t know yet, we’ll decide after training.

“He’s a bit of a surprise, we have to admit.

“His behaviour is fantastic and he’s a great player.”

DON’T MISS: JJ Gabriel: Winners of Real Madrid v Barcelona battle for Man Utd gem emerge

Jesus, too, is happy at Barcelona and is living the “dream” of playing for the Catalan giants.

The striker told Mundo Deportivo on October 10: “Being at Barca for me is a dream, I have already said it a couple of times.

“Playing with these players is very easy too: they all play very well and always have the ball.

“That makes it much easier for me, since I am a striker, to have scoring chances, and there I am ready to score goals.

“I think Flick gives a lot of confidence to all the players.

“We are going to have chances and, when we are inside the area, we have to score goals.

May Raphinha recover quickly, because the team misses him.”

Jesus added: “The truth is that I have played in teams that have scored many goals and now I am in one that scores many goals.

“Hopefully we continue scoring goals to be able to win games and, at the end of the season, win titles, which is the most important thing,”

READ NEXT: Arsenal progressing with TRIPLE DEAL as timeline for breakthroughs revealed – Exclusive

Spurs will find any attempts to sign the Benfica striker extremely tough in the January window after sources confirmed their very strong interest in the prolific Greek marksman

The next club for the Man Utd teenage prodigy has been named by a top journalist

The Reds are interested in signing one of the best right-backs in the world, but the deal could depend on Araujo’s future, as per a report

The Gunners are emerging as favourites to sign Alvarez from Atleti, and he is reportedly available for an enticing fee

TEAMtalk understands that Barcelona and Real Madrid were both represented at Anfield on Sunday to watch Haaland in action – but the powerful Norwegian was one of four players under surveillance

Anthony Gordon has scored his first goal for Barcelona and the media have largely praised him for his role in their 3-0 victory over Getafe