Mikel Arteta and Gabriel Jesus: The Non-Existent Row
Mikel Arteta has apparently “torn into” Gabriel Jesus. The “bitter Arsenal transfer exit” is said to be “escalating”. There are “accusations”, “blasts”, a “row”.
Then you read what Arteta actually said.
The Arsenal manager was asked about Jesus’ comments on his departure and whether he felt let down. Here is the supposedly explosive retaliation:
“Very surprised, to be fair, especially because with Gabriel I had an individual talk in the dressing room. I don’t know what the words were said, it’s fine.
“And the words that we used for each other, it was all about gratitude. So, I don’t know, it’s okay. Sometimes I understand when you have to deliver bad news or news that people don’t expect. Those things are reactive. Somebody has to be there to be bad cop. If I have to be, I have to be. And I understand.
“What is important is normally what happens three months later, six months later, when Trossard comes in, he’s in the dressing room with all of us, the atmosphere and the relation you have. And thank God so far, with all the players that they left, at some point their relationship has been really good. I hope that’s the same case.”
That’s it. That’s the “hits back”, the “fires back”, the “shocked” response.
Arteta spoke about gratitude. About understanding. About the awkwardness of delivering bad news and playing the bad cop when a player doesn’t expect it. He even looked ahead to the possibility of Jesus coming back into the dressing room one day and being welcomed.
If that’s a public dressing-down, then managers have started hairdryers on mute.
This comes in the same week that Arsenal’s “unhappy” players were said to be on the verge of a revolt over the “despicable” treatment of Gabriel Martinelli – treatment that, in reality, involved being left out of a squad ahead of a move that will make him extraordinarily rich. Now Jesus is the latest supposed victim of Arteta’s tyranny, despite the coach leaning on words like “gratitude” and “relationship” rather than anything remotely confrontational.
The disconnect is obvious. The headlines promise a full-scale bust-up; the quotes deliver a manager who sounds more like a slightly disappointed teacher than a raging authoritarian. Arteta even accepts the emotional reaction that can follow an unwanted decision. “Those things are reactive,” he says. Hardly a grenade lobbed in Jesus’ direction.
Strip Chelsea, crown Spurs? Not quite
The inflation of minor stories into grand dramas is not limited to Arsenal.
Mauricio Pochettino’s suggestion that Tottenham should be handed the 2016/17 Premier League title and Chelsea stripped of it has inevitably been met with a response from the league. Or so we’re told.
“Premier League responds after Mauricio Pochettino calls for Chelsea to be stripped of title,” screams one headline.
You don’t need a curiosity gap to guess what the response is. No serious person expects executives at the Premier League to sit down, pore over a decade-old season and decide that, actually, Spurs should be champions because their former manager says so.
The opening line of John Cross’s piece underlines the obvious: “Premier League chiefs insist they did not let Chelsea off lightly amid the storm surrounding their 2017 title.” Of course they do. The real story would be if they admitted they had gone soft.
The twist? Those quotes are at least a month old. The headline leans heavily on the idea that this is a fresh, reactive statement to Pochettino. It isn’t.
Boxing Day ‘crisis’ quietly evaporates
Cross also finds space on the back page to report that Boxing Day football is back on a Saturday this year rather than a Friday. The implication is that a cherished tradition has been saved, or at least temporarily restored.
Not so long ago, we were told Boxing Day football was “a goner”, that the “much-loved festive fixture” had been tossed into the bin by modern football’s scheduling demands. Now, with a calendar-friendly date, the same fixture list looks far less apocalyptic.
So was the erosion of tradition ever quite as irreversible as billed? Or was a fair chunk of the outrage just noise?
Nkunku and the ‘slam’ that wasn’t
The word “slam” gets thrown around freely. The Sun’s website tells us that Christopher Nkunku has “slammed” former Manchester United target Ruben Amorim while lifting the lid on his Chelsea “nightmare”.
Here’s what Nkunku actually said about his time at Milan and the decision that led him back to his current club:
“Milan’s decision? It’s a choice that should be respected, but I don’t know why they acted that way. I was surprised. In any case, I wish them a good season. At Milan I didn’t have any injuries, but the vision of football was different from mine. So, as soon as the opportunity arose to come back here and play my football, I seized it.”
Respect, surprise, a polite explanation of differing football visions, and a good-luck wish. That’s a “slam” now.
If that’s the standard, footballers will need a new word for when they actually criticise someone.
Man City’s ‘Old Trafford hoodoo’
Then there is Manchester City’s supposed “hoodoo” at Old Trafford. MailOnline insists Pep Guardiola’s side are “fired up” to end their drought at Manchester United’s ground, driven on by squad unity, standards and a new edge under Enzo Maresca.
The hook? City “haven’t scored a goal there since 2023”.
Sounds ominous until you realise they have played there twice in that span. One of those games finished 0-0. The other was a defeat. Before that, they thrashed United 3-0 at Old Trafford.
A hoodoo is something that hangs over a club for years, a psychological weight built up by repeated failure. Two games – one goalless draw, one loss – after a comprehensive away win does not qualify.
Language matters. It shapes how we see managers like Arteta, players like Jesus and Nkunku, and clubs like City. When “gratitude” becomes a “row”, when polite disagreement becomes a “slam”, when two awkward results turn into a “hoodoo”, the sport starts to look more hysterical than it really is.
The football is dramatic enough. Does this season really need the volume turned up on every whisper?
