Gabriel Jesus has accused Arsenal of making him train away from the rest of the squad before his move to Barcelona. Mikel Arteta said he was “Very surprised, to be fair” when asked about the claim, and said their farewell in the dressing room had been handled differently.
Arteta's version of the exit
Arteta said he had “an individual talk in the dressing room” with Jesus and that “the words that we used for each other, it was all about gratitude.” That is a direct clash with Jesus’s account, which came after he left north London for Barcelona on 1 September following four years at Arsenal.
Jesus’s move is already live on the pitch. He has made 1 appearance for Barcelona in 2026, logging 9 minutes and a 6.9 rating. The numbers are tiny, but they show the transfer has moved beyond the argument and into an actual playing spell.
Arteta also made it clear that he accepts the hard side of exits. “Somebody has to be the bad cop. If I have to be, I have to be. I understand,” he said. The Sunderland trip on 2026-09-12 now sits just ahead of Arsenal’s next league test, with the manager trying to keep the story on process rather than grievance.
The wider exit question at Arsenal
There is another reason this has not stayed a private dispute. Arteta pointed to Leandro Trossard’s return to Arsenal-related spaces after his July exit to Besiktas as proof that leaving does not have to break a relationship. He added: “What's important is what happens three months later, six months later.”
That line is the one worth keeping in mind. Jesus has chosen to speak publicly about how he felt the club treated him, while Arteta is arguing that the real judgment comes later, after the move has settled. Saturday’s game away to Sunderland will not settle that disagreement, but it does give Arsenal a chance to move on from it quickly.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →
