Arsenal star Gabriel Jesus has been left out of the matchday squad for the Gunners' Europa League clash against Sporting CP.
The talented striker has been sidelined with a knee injury for over three months now, suffering a medial collateral ligament injury during Brazil's World Cup campaign back in November 2022. Since then, Gunners supporters have been watching closely eagerly awaiting their star forward's return ahead of a crucial few months in the Premier League title race.
Jesus finally returned to full training earlier this week, spotted with the rest of the squad during Wednesday's open training session at the club's London Colney base. However, he has not been named in the squad for the Round of 16 match against Portuguese outfit Sporting, meaning the north London outfit clearly don't think he is ready yet.
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Some reports earlier this week had indicated that Jesus would still make the trip to Portugal with the rest of his teammates, although football.london understands that the Brazilian international stayed at home instead. Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has constantly reiterated the need to give the 25-year-old time to come back to fitness before playing him in any competitive matches.
Speaking about the former Manchester City frontman on Wednesday evening, Arteta told football.london: "We will try not to rush him back. We will try to make a fair assessment between what he needs and when is comfortable and as well giving the team a boost that it's going to need in the next few weeks for sure.
"Everything is going well, he needs time as well to get himself that confidence and that physical state that is necessary to compete with a free mind and once he's free to do that, we will throw him in."
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