Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus is currently playing like Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino ‘in his pomp.’
That’s the view of former Gunners midfielder Paul Merson. Speaking on Sky Sports via Football Daily yesterday, Merson praised Jesus’ two-goal display against Leeds United, chucking in a lofty comparison.
“I thought he [Jesus] was outstanding, he just brings something different to the team,” said the pundit.
“He comes off players, he knits it all together, he reminds me a bit of Firmino at Liverpool when he was at his pomp, playing with Mane and Salah, he’s a bit like that.
“He knits it all together, he comes short, he can go long. He’s just a proper, proper footballer.”
Jesus no match for Liverpool’s No.9
This is a comparison that has been made to lesser degrees before. It’s also something which former Brazil manager Tite had to wrestle with plenty of times when selecting his teams in the past.
Both players are indeed similar, but have quite distinctive qualities as well. Jesus is certainly more of a typical goal-scorer, with Firmino a much more efficient link man.
In our obviously biased opinion though, Jesus can’t hold a candle to Bobby.
He may have won more with Manchester City and is excelling at Arsenal, but he’s never been as integral to a team as Firmino has been to Liverpool.
Even now, with Arsenal top of the league, they’ve done it with Jesus injured for large parts. In his ‘pomp,’ Liverpool could barely do without Firmino at all.
Others will argue differently, but for us it’s pretty clear. These kinds of comparisons just go to show how underrated Firmino has been over eight years at Anfield. They can try to match him, but there’ll never be another quite like our Bobby.
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