Soccer

Guardiola says City ready to help Jesus now his family have returned to Brazil

Agüero in contention for home game against Wolves after missed Burton match with flu

Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus celebrates scoring one of his four goals against Burton Albion at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. Photograph: Reuters/Jason Cairnduff

Jamie Jackson
Fri Jan 11 2019 - 20:02

Pep Guardiola has said Manchester City are ready to help Gabriel Jesus if the striker finds life difficult now his family have returned to Brazil.

Jesus’s relatives had been with him in England for a short period, but are home after their visas expired. The 21-year-old expressed his wish that they had remained after he scored four times in Wednesday’s 9-0 Carabao Cup semi-final first leg win over Burton.

Asked about this, Guardiola said: “The private life is the private life, and if they need something we are there. We are there to help. But, of course, we cannot substitute the mother, and when the family can’t be here it’s difficult.

“They have to handle the situation and of course he is not alone, he has friends. He has incredible relationship with the Brazilian guys, like Danilo, Fernandinho, [and the Portuguese speaker] Bernardo [Silva], many, many players here. I think it won’t be a problem for the next months.

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“But we don’t know the private lives and the private lives can affect a lot their performance, shorter to medium time. So any time when you have any problems it can happen. We are going to try and help. In the case of Gabriel, it’s like this. Beyond that I don’t know what we should do.”

Sergio Agüero missed the Burton game because of flu, but is in contention for Monday’s home game against Wolves. “Yesterday was the first training session for him,” the manager said. “Vincent [Kompany] is recovering well after the game against Liverpool. I hope they’ll be okay for Monday.”

– Guardian

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