Mikel Arteta: Gabriel Jesus will stay at Arsenal and could fill number nine role

Mikel Arteta has insisted Gabriel Jesus will not be sold and can be Arsenal’s first-choice number nine.

Jesus made his injury comeback as a second-half substitute in Arsenal’s 3-0 win against Club Brugge on Wednesday after 11 months away.

The Brazil international, 28, brings an extra dimension to Arteta’s frontline but he has just 18 months to run on his current contract.

After splashing out £64million to sign Viktor Gyokeres and with Kai Havertz, albeit currently sidelined with a knee injury, another striking option, Arsenal could be tempted to cash in on Jesus before his deal expires.

However, speaking ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League match against Wolves at the Emirates on Saturday, Arteta said: “No, I don’t consider that (selling him), especially with the situation that we have right now.

“Gabriel has a lot to offer to the team and he’s proven that straight away in the first minute that he was available to play. He’s put so much to be in this position again and now the focus is to be with us.”

Pressed on whether he can be Arsenal’s main number nine, Arteta replied: “Yes. A player of his quality, a player that has given us so much. He’s certainly a player that has to be pushing and aiming for that.”

Jesus replaced Gyokeres with 30 minutes remaining in Belgium, and he had more touches of the ball than the ineffective Sweden international. He also struck the crossbar.

Gyokeres has scored in just four of his 17 appearances for Arsenal since his summer move from Sporting Lisbon where he struck 97 times across 102 appearances.

Gyokeres’ last goal for Arsenal came in a 2-0 win at Burnley before he was sidelined for almost one month with a hamstring injury.

And on Gyokeres, Arteta said: “We have to put the player in the best possible condition to explode and fulfil his potential.

“Before the injury, he was in a great place. It took him a while at the beginning because it’s a different league with different demands.

“He had no pre-season and now he’s starting to get some momentum. The goals will come but the thing that’s going to unlock him is goals.

“He needs that for himself, for his confidence, and we’re going to judge his performances based on that as well. That’s logical. He needs to start to convert the chances that he’s getting.”

Arteta was without eight players for their midweek Champions League clash. The Spaniard was typically coy on whether any of Declan Rice, who missed out on the trip to Belgium through illness, and some of the other shorter-term absentees such as William Saliba, Leandro Trossard and Jurrien Timber would be available to face Wolves.

Saliba has been absent for the past four fixtures with an ankle injury, and Arteta said of the France defender: “It was something quite small because it came from an ankle injury that he had, and then he started to modify the way he was running, and he started to overload an area, which is something common.

“But at some point, it became uncomfortable to continue training and playing and we had to stop.

“He hasn’t trained with us yet. We have an extra day. Let’s see if he can be available (to face Wolves) or not.”