Arsenal have completed the signing of Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus for a fee of around £45 million ($54 million), the London club announced on Monday.

Jesus, who scored 95 goals in 236 appearances for City, has signed a “long-term contract” with Arsenal after deciding to leave the Premier League champions in search of more regular first-team action.

The Brazil international is reunited with Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, who was Pep Guardiola’s assistant at City before he took charge at the Emirates Stadium.

“I’m very excited. The club has done a tremendous job to recruit a player of this stature,” Arteta said.

“This is a position that’s been on our radar for a long time now and we have managed to get a player that we all wanted, so I’m really happy.”

Jesus was expected to fall down the pecking order at City had he stayed for the final year of his contract as the champions have bolstered their striking options with the signings of Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez.

Admitting Arteta’s presence at the Emirates was influential in his decision to join the Gunners, Jesus said: “We spoke a couple of times about the club, the players, the project and the future.

“I believe 100 percent in Mikel. I had a very good time with him before, he’s a very good guy and a very good coach as well.

“He helped me a lot. We would always stick together after the training sessions and do some finishing or something.

“He’s a very intelligent guy and was an amazing player, so if he knows something he can teach me or the young players.”

Arsenal have let senior strikers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette leave the club for free in the past six months.

Despite handing Eddie Nketiah a new five-year deal, Jesus is expected to lead the line for Arteta’s men as the Gunners aim to end a six-year absence from the Champions League.

The 25-year-old won four Premier League titles among eight major honours during his time with City after joining them in January 2017.

Arsenal have already strengthened Arteta’s squad with the signings of Portuguese midfielder Fabio Vieira, Brazilian teenage forward Marquinhos and American goalkeeper Matt Turner.

According to reports, they have also had a bid for Leeds winger Raphinha turned down, but are expected to return with an improved offer for the Brazilian international.

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Perennial rivals, the Super Falcons of Nigeria and Banyana Banyana of South Africa will lock horns at the Prince Heritier Moulay El Hassan stadium on Monday (today).

The Group C encounter is expected to set the tone for bigger things to come at the 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Holder, Super Falcons are targeting a tenth title in Morocco while, Banyana Banyana are keen to emerge champions for the first time.

Nigeria defeated South Africa 4-3 on penalties in the final four years ago in Ghana.

The South Africans have, however, won the last two of their three meetings between the two teams.

Banyana head coach, Desiree Ellis emphasized the importance of getting a good result in the opening game of the competition.

“The first game of the tournament is always the biggest game and this makes it even better because it’s against defending champions Nigeria and because it is Nigeria, the game is bigger than what it is supposed to be,” Ellis told a press conference ahead of the game.

“We want to start well and we know it is going to be a tough encounter. They are not Champions for nothing,” she added.

“They have been consistent over the years and that is one area that we need to improve on; to be consistent in our performances and be classified amongst the best.

“It’s all about the three points at the moment and getting the tournament to a good start,” added Ellis.

The highly anticipated encounter will kick-off at 6pm Nigeria time.

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Chelsea legend, Frank Lebeouf has advised the new leadership of the club under the guidance of Todd Boehly not to sign Paris Saint-Germain forward, Neymar.

Lebeouf instead wants Boehly to sign Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo, adding that Chelsea manager, Thomas Tuchel, doesn’t want Neymar at Stamford Bridge.

According to him, Chelsea needs to sign Ronaldo over Neymar because the Blues need someone to score and be more clinical.

Neymar and Ronaldo have been linked with a move to Chelsea this summer.

Speaking to ESPN, Lebeouf said: “I would pick Ronaldo because they need someone to finish the actions and score and be more clinical.

“Neymar is not going to happen, I don’t think Tuchel wants him because he had so many issues when he was the coach of PSG.”

AS Roma legend, Francesco Totti has claimed to be aware of the ‘reality of the current situation’ of Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo’s links with the Italian club.

Ronaldo has communicated with Man United that he wants to leave Old Trafford should an agreeable offer come from another club.

The Portugal captain scored 24 goals for Manchester United last season across all competitions.

Man United’s failure to qualify for the UEFA Champions League and failure to sign new players so far in the transfer market thus have seemingly made Ronaldo look for another club.

Ronaldo, 37, is being linked with many big European clubs, including Roma, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Juventus.

Speaking to Sky Sports Italia, Totti said that he never believed in Ronaldo’s potential arrival at Roma.

Totti said: “To be honest, I never believed in Ronaldo to Roma, because I know the reality of the current situation.”

However, Totti believes Paulo Dybala, who recently left Juventus, should have been approached by Roma’s board.

He added: “Dybala was possible, very possible. However, other things happened then and the idea vanished. He will go elsewhere.”

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