Interview with City's new signing
Gabriel Jesus joins the blues and gives us his views
Gabriel Jesus has joined the blues from Palmeiras and has been giving his views on everything from the fans, Manchester and his manager.....
ON JOINING THE CLUB AND FAN REACTION…“I’m getting to know everything. I’m very impressed by the size of the club, with the planning, the structure, the training ground is very big, I really like it. I can’t wait to start playing. You can’t avoid it fans interested in him, people who live for football, who love football. I was very pleased that the fans wanted to find out about me, were following me, so when I run out onto the pitch, I’ll be playing for them.”
ON FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF MANCHESTER…“Very cold! Very cold…but it’s a manageable cold. It’s another challenge, but I’m enjoying it. I was very impressed with the city, the more I discover, the more I like it. I haven’t seen it all yet, but I like what I’ve seen so far.”
ON HIS SQUAD NUMBER (33)…“Yes, I plan to keep it. It’s the number I’ve been wearing since I turned professional. It’s a number I ended up with and I really liked. I intend to wear it for many years. I asked if the number 33 was available, they said yes, and so I chose it.”
ON WHY CITY…“Apart from the size of the club, which is massive, with a long history, it’s a club that always competes for the titles in the competitions it enters. That was an important factor and also because of the manager, Pep Guardiola and his squad. He was the only manager who called me so I was very pleased. Given the manager he is and everything he’s done, his intelligence, my desire is to work with him and learn more from him every day, as well as from the other players in the squad. I want to win titles and Manchester City is a club that is used to winning.”
ON WHAT PEP SAID TO HIM…“He said he’d really like me to come, that I’d help the club a lot, help my teammates. I was very pleased and from the point I chose Manchester. I got it into my head that I was coming here to help and learn a lot.”
ON STAYING AT PALMEIRAS TO WIN THE TITLE…“People ask me why I only chose to come after 2016 and why I didn’t come halfway through the season. I made it clear that I wanted to stay until the end of the year at Palmeiras because I wanted to win another championship, to help Palmeiras. It’s a club where I learned so much, so I wanted to win. We were champions, I left there with my head held high and highly satisfied with our performance during the championship.”
ON THE ENORMITY OF HIS SUCCESS SO FAR…“I haven’t thought about it much yet, but I’m very pleased with everything that’s happening in my life. I’m very happy, I think it comes from a lot of work, a lot of faith in God too. I work very hard, I like to work hard every day so that I can learn more and more. I believe that opportunities come along and we have to take advantage of them.”
ON THE PREMIER LEAGUE…“I’ve watched it and I notice it’s a very hard, intense style of play. I hope to adapt as quickly as possible. I’m going to try to take it all in and adapt. I know it isn’t going to be easy, but it only depends on me to put in the effort to adapt. I can’t feel scared, being given an opportunity like this to change my life. There are more challenges and opportunities to change the lives of my family members, to give them opportunities, so I can’t be scared of anything.”
ON HIS FOOTBALL ROOTS…“It’s something in the family, my mother’s family, my uncles, my cousins all played, my brother also played football at amateur level. It comes from my mother’s side, so from the age of five I used to go out in the street with my friends to play football and I started to love it. I think I was born to play football, at the age of five you can hardly walk properly, so it’s been a passion since I was little.”
ON GROWING UP IN BRAZIL…“I had a very normal childhood. I was always outside in the street playing football, I missed other things to play football. I played various games during my childhood and I always prioritised school, which is very important. So I finished school and played amateur football for our local team in Jardim Peri. I see my childhood as very normal, of course I only thought about football, as I do today.”
ON SPEAKING TO FERNANDINHO…“Yes, I spoke to him, before signing. He called me and we had a good chat. I liked what he told me about the city, about the club, the professionals who work here, the people, so I was very happy. That’s when I began to decide to come here. I was very comfortable with everything he told me and shortly after we met up with the national team and we talked. I’d already signed for City and I asked him everything, about cars, housing, everything, and he explained everything to me. He’s someone who is very important to my arrival at City.”
ON EXCITEMENT ABOUT PLAYING WITH THE SQUAD…“Not just in relation to him Sergio Aguero, but to everyone. I expect to be another teammate to help out, to add something to the team, and to learn from them. I’m very happy to be able to wear the City shirt, it’s a massive club. The players who are here are here because they have the skills, they are very professional in defending the City shirt, so I intend to learn as much as possible from them.
ON PEP…“One thing I’ve noticed is that, like me, he’s mad about football. He lives football 24 hours a day. I’m like that too. When I’m not playing, I’m watching, or playing a video game, doing something linked to football. I think this is very important, that I’m the same as him and I hope to learn. As I said, I’ve come here to learn, I’m going to give my all to learn more and more from him and my teammates.”
ON AMBITION…“My dream in a City shirt is to win titles, to be happy and to make all Manchester City’s fans happy too. I’ve come here to help and to win titles.”