Pep Guardiola has revealed Gabriel Jesus could start Manchester City’s FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal in a return that would be nearly a month earlier than the original prognosis regarding his metatarsal injury suggested.
However, it is understood that, if the Brazilian is in the starting XI at Wembley, it would be a surprise and he may have to settle for a place on the bench.
The 20-year-old suffered the injury in City’s 2-0 win at Bournemouth on 13 February when it was thought Jesus could miss up to three months. However with City to travel to London on Saturday in time to watch Tottenham Hotspur against Chelsea at the team hotel in the weekend’s first semi-final at Wembley, Jesus has made enough progress in training to join the squad.
“Today [Friday] he will take part in training with us,” Guardiola said. “He’s coming back with his happiness and we are so happy he’s back again. We are going to travel with all the squad to Wembley, all the group, and he will be part of that. After that, we will see.”
Jesus scored three times in five appearances before his injury, a run of form that dislodged Sergio Agüero from the team. Guardiola said: “He has made an impact. You know how difficult it is to come into the Premier League and play how we play. In just 10 minutes against Tottenham he created two or three chances himself and scored [a disallowed goal]. He has [had] an impact for sure.
“When players are injured, I am happy they are coming back, especially for him. He decides, he has all of Europe in his hands, and he decided to come here and join us. We can’t forget that. I am so happy he joined us here but then he could only play two or three weeks so that is why I am so happy. With Sergio and the other ones he will hopefully help us score goals until the end of the season.”
The manager said he has not ruled out starting Jesus against Arsène Wenger’s side. “All the squad are travelling down tomorrow and we will watch the match between Tottenham and Chelsea,” he said. “After dinner I will decide the team. He’s really much, much better.”
Guardiola will be without John Stones, with the central defender still recovering from a problem that kept him out of the win at Southampton.
“He has a muscular injury,” said the Catalan. “It happened one day in a training session. Maybe he will come back for Manchester United on Thursday, but I don’t know.”
Guardiola admitted the club owners may not be content even if City claim the Cup. His side are in fourth place in the Premier League, 11 points behind the leaders Chelsea.
“I think they will not be happy,” Guardiola said. “The expectation of the club is as high as possible, winning titles. And we are not able. We are not happy, I can completely understand. And we could have done better in terms of the results and even in the way we played because we wanted to be in the race for the title and in the Champions League until the end.”
He is, though, personally at ease with his first campaign. “My season was good. I’m so happy. I’m happy here. I was so happy all the season, with ups and downs.”
Guardiola admitted his squad need to claim a first FA Cup since 2011 to convince themselves of their individual ability. “It is important to achieve a final,” he said. “I would like the FA Cup so my players realise how good they are.
“For all clubs titles are important. Winning titles gives you the self-confidence to say we’re good enough to compete. When you win, the next time it will be a little easier. This is a fantastic club and team, I’m so proud of what we’ve done and how we’ve overcome bad moments.”
Meanwhile City will not have to pay a fine of €40m (£33.4m) after Uefa confirmed the club had complied with sanctions imposed for breaching financial fair play rules. City were given a €60m fine, transfer restrictions and forced to name a smaller Champions League squad than usual after being found guilty of breaching the regulations in 2014.
Two thirds of the €60m fine, however, was in effect suspended on the condition the club “fulfils the operational and financial measures agreed with the Uefa club financial control body”. Additional criteria City agreed to meet included limiting annual losses to set amounts each year with the purpose of moving towards break-even figures. This has now been achieved with City recording a profit in the past two financial years.