City manager Guardiola admitted he did not know what to expect from the exciting forward ahead of his move to the Premier League.
The words Guardiola used mirrored those used by Leeds owner, Massimo Cellino who compared coaches to watermelons. Cellino said that about new Coach, David Hockaday who was sacked after six games.
"You never know. It's like a watermelon. You have to open to see if it's good or not," Guardiola said, concerning the purchase of Gabriel.
"The prospect was good. Jesus is a fighter with instinct for the goal."
City signed the striker in the summer for £27m, but he spent the rest of 2016 with his Brazilian club - helping them to win their domestic title.
Since joining up with City last month, he has started twice and made one substitute appearance, scoring one goal and assisting two.
Guardiola, while speaking to BBC Sport said: "He played a few minutes against Tottenham and created chances and it's not easy to play at Crystal Palace. He's good at assists too. He made a marvellous assist against Palace and today with Kevin de Bruyne."
The City manager added: ""He wants to become a good player. He has dreams and he has things he wants to do in the future in his career. That helps a lot.
"He wants to do something in the world of football and, of course, we are going to try to help him get it for us.
He is a young talent and he has a huge mentality. He is so aggressive.
"He is a guy who attacks the goal and wants to score goals."
Guardiola left top scorer Sergio Aguero on the bench, starting Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and Jesus up front - and the trio impressed, linking up well and playing a part in all four goals.
De Bruyne opened the scoring after a one-two with Jesus, Sane set up David Silva for the second, and Sterling squared for Jesus to make it 3-0 before half-time.
Yaya Toure added a fourth from the penalty spot after Hammers debutant Jose Fonte brought down Sterling.
"We played a front three with an average age of 20," said Guardiola. "In Europe, nobody has strikers this young. I like the fans to be excited. Those players are the future of the club."
Asked if Aguero would have to get used to life on the bench, Guardiola said: "No. I'm a guy who likes to involve as many players as possible."
0 comments:
Post a Comment