Gabriel Jesus Will Add a Thrilling New Dimension to Manchester City's Attack

Manchester City's summer transfer spend was considerable. It totalled in excess of £150 million, a revamp that saw them add first-team ready stars to their already impressive core of world-class players, as well as a number of youngsters whose immediate development will be overseen elsewhere.

It's left them in a far healthier state than the back end of last season when their squad had become somewhat depleted and lacking quality in a number of areas. They now have strength in depth, huge goalscoring capability and a raft of talented young players and are well-placed for success.

They are far from the finished article, but there's an obvious improvement already.

It was a bold shopping spree. Txiki Begiristain was under fire before the summer after a series of mixed transfer windows had seen City spend big but fail to address key weaknesses. But his role in bringing Pep Guardiola to the club—the most important signing City have made since the takeover in 2008—has secured his position, and buoyed by the new manager's pulling power, he has completed a series of ambitious and impressive transfers.

City have brought in quality at good value, and their squad is now in a position to challenge for the top prizes once again.

But it was perhaps the signing of Gabriel Jesus, a player who won't arrive at City until January, that brought the most excitement to the club's boardroom. Jesus, 19, was highly sought after. It's likely every top club in Europe wanted him; such was the impression he's made for Palmeiras in the Brazilian top flight since breaking into the first team in 2015.

The goals have flowed—he has 14 in 34 league games already—and so have the accolades, with Jesus awarded the 2015 Best Newcomer award in the Brazilian top flight.

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"I look at Gabriel and see myself in the past," says Brazil legend Ronaldo, a man who knows all about scoring goals and winning titles, per Jack Lang writing in the Mirror. "I see similarities... him being so young but already having achieved so much and having so much responsibility. He's got a fantastic future ahead of him and he's already enchanting us with what he's doing."

It was a major coup for City to land him—with a personal phone call from Guardiola a key factor in Jesus' decision to turn down Barcelona.

"It was a complicated decision, but in the end my desire to learn won," Jesus explained in an interview with the Guardian. "The presence of Guardiola as a manager at City and the fact that it is a great club were very important factors in my final decision.

"Guardiola's phone call was a huge part of me deciding to go there. 

“It made me realise that I'd love to work with him. I don't know him personally yet but he already made me feel very safe about his project there."

Jesus can play in a number of attacking roles, both in behind a lone frontman or leading the line himself, with an array of tricks developed on the streets of Sao Paulo making him so difficult to keep quiet. He's able to beat players, breezing past them with a drop of the shoulder and swivel of the hips—his technical quality clear on first sight.

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And his appetite for the game has been insatiable since he was a young boy. "Sometimes I'd play as many as three or four matches a day: I couldn't get enough of it," he told the FIFA website in July. "It'd get to the point when my muscles would cramp up. It's football. I can't put my mind to anything else. I'm not interested in hanging out or partying.

"For me, it's all about the pitch: training, playing. Even when I go home it's football the whole time. I think I'm obsessed."

He made his senior debut for Brazil earlier this month in a 3-0 win over Ecuador, earning a penalty to break the deadlock before scoring two sensational late goals, the first a backheel from close range that underlined his impudence and ability to improvise, the second a beautiful long-range curler into the top corner.

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It was a remarkable display from an inexperienced teenager just feeling his way on to the world stage—proof, if it were needed, that he is a special talent who could have a serious impact on the game in the coming years. City may just have landed in the most gifted young forward in South America.

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However, Jesus' immediate focus is on helping Palmerias and continuing to make an impression for the national team.

"I'm focused on my objectives. I like to see the plays, successes and errors in order for me to correct them," he told a media conference ahead of Brazil's game with Colombia earlier this month.

"Right now I don't want any contact with Manchester. I am happy being where I am right now, focused on the national team.

"All of this [success] comes from work. I've been working hard since I moved into the senior team. I want to learn more and more. Continuing to work will help me even more."

This is a young player dedicated to his craft. He knows he is blessed with a gift—the Brazilian media have been falling over themselves to bestow greatness on him for some time—but he is leaving nothing to chance and is instead continuing to work hard to make the necessary improvements to his game.

And at City, he will find the perfect environment to fine-tune his quality. Guardiola is a master in improving the players he works with. The evidence of that is already clear in Manchester. Players who performed well last season, such as Fernandinho and Kevin De Bruyne, have found a new level, and those underperforming badly—Aleksandar Kolarov, Nicolas Otamendi and Raheem Sterling—have turned their form around sharply.

In fact, every single player involved in the City first team has improved considerably. Jesus, a player with so much natural talent for Guardiola to work with, is a diamond the Catalan can cut to his own liking.

City are playing an open, attractive brand of attacking football. They keep possession brilliantly and are moving the ball at speed. Without it, they work as hard as any side in the Premier League. They will take some stopping in the race for the title, and Jesus will provide their forward line with a timely mid-season boost when he finally arrives. Their attacking style, which encourages innovation on the ball, should suit the youngster.

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Expectations, then, are very high indeed—but there are likely to be teething issues. Brazilian footballers have a mixed record in the English top flight. For every Juninho, there's an Afonso Alves or Fabio Rochemback. They've not always found it easy to adapt to the climate and physicality of the league, and patience will be needed while he settles.

But with Sergio Aguero and Kelechi Iheanacho the only recognised strikers in Guardiola's squad, Jesus is likely to get chances immediately. Unlike Marlos Moreno and Oleksandr Zinchenko, both signed this summer and then immediately loaned out, Jesus is a player for the here and now, one expected to give them added impetus as they go in search of trophies.

Anyone who has witnessed his ability firsthand will feel confident he can have an impact.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and follows the club from a Manchester base. All quotes and information were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Follow him on Twitter @RobPollard_.