Gabriel Jesus recalls 'crazy thing' Pep Guardiola did which made him cry and leave Man City | OneFootball

Gabriel Jesus has revealed the reason behind his Manchester City departure as he claims Pep Guardiola made his mind up by making one shocking decision.

Jesus was a driving force in the Arsenal team that pushed City all the way in the Premier League during the 2022/23 season.

He managed 11 goals after missing a big portion of the campaign due to injury.

The £45 million move in the summer of 2022 was a shock at the time as the Gunners were not even in the Champions League at the time.

Jesus has now gone on record with his reasoning behind the move away from the Etihad.

How did Pep Guardiola make Jesus leave Man City?

Despite being a big game player and an important squad member during his time in Manchester, Jesus did not feel valued by his boss by the end of his time at the club.

He scored 95 goals during his stint at City, playing as both a striker and a winger at times.

Speaking on the Denilson Show podcast, the 26-year-old revealed the reason he initially considered leaving the club.

Jesus said: "There was a Champions League game, PSG at home, in which (Guardiola) put Zinchenko as a false nine. Crazy thing."

Zinchenko actually followed his teammate in making the move to North London, but was also part of the reason he left in the first place.

The decision to select the Ukranian ahead of him left Jesus baffled as he explained: "The day before, he didn't even use (Zinchenko) in training, he had put me in as a striker."

The game in question was a Champions League tie with PSG.

"Two hours before the game, there's a team talk, the team eats, rests for 30 minutes and goes to the game. He told us the team, I didn't even eat," added the Brazilian.

The emotional toll taken at the time went even further as he made contact with his mother to express his feelings.

He continued: "I went straight to the room, crying, I called my mother to talk," before telling her: "I want to leave."

He did not stop there as he also said: "I'm going home, because he put (Zinchenko) on, and he didn't put me on. He put a left-back there. I went crazy."

It is understandable that a striker being dropped in favour of a left-back could be upsetting and confusing, and it proved to be the final straw.

Jesus explains the moment Arsenal lost the league

Having led the title race for the majority of the season, Arsenal ended up falling short and Jesus and Zinchenko's former employers lifted the trophy.

Jesus claims to know the exact moment his side lost their grip on the title race.

The injury of French centre-back, William Saliba, was the reason cited by the forward.

He said: "When he plays, we concede few goals, when he doesn't play, the number (goals conceded) increases."