Gabriel Jesus took off running in the Premier League.
Three goals in five games even forced former first-choice striker Sergio Aguero out of the Manchester City first team and it appeared to be a shrewd piece of business from Pep Guardiola to bring in the young Brazilian, particularly when legends like Ronaldinho claimed that Jesus possesses the potential to become the best player in the world.
“At the moment, it is Messi,” Ronaldinho told Sky Sports. “I have always said I think one day it will be Neymar. But at 19, in the future, it can be Gabriel. He has all the abilities to make that happen.”
And then this happens.
Jesus left Fantasy Football managers cursing their luck on Monday night as the 19-year-old was forced out of City’s 2-0 victory at Bournemouth after just 14 minutes of action.
The early signs were not promising and, on Tuesday afternoon, confirmation came that the former Palmeiras forward could be missing for the remainder of the season.
Argentine reporter Vero Brunati broke the news that Jesus had broken his metatarsal and was expected to be unavailable for between two and three months.
#JesusGabriel ruptura del 5to metatarsiano. Estará entre dos y tres meses inactivo. Mala suerte la del @ManCity esta temporada.
— Veronica Brunati (@verobrunati) February 14, 2017
Gabriel Jesus out for 2-3 months with broken metatarsal #mcfc https://t.co/rOyYFWgbRv
— Ed Aarons (@ed_aarons) February 14, 2017
