ARSENAL have suffered a major blow on the eve of the new season after star striker Gabriel Jesus underwent surgery yesterday.

The £45million Brazilian had an operation on his right knee after complaining of constant pain in the joint during the pre-season build-up.

Gabriel Jesus is having a knee injury assessed by Arsenal

Mikel Arteta revealed Gabriel Jesus has had surgery on his knee

The Community Shield match against Manchester City on Sunday as well as Nottingham Forest’s Premier League debut in nine days will both be without him.

However, after spending three months on the sidelines following his initial injury at the World Cup in Qatar last year, manager Mikel Arteta worries that Jesus could be sidelined for a much longer.

Arteta admitted: “Unfortunately Gabby had a little procedure this morning and I think he’s going to be out for a few weeks.

“It’s not something major but he’s been feeling some discomfort in the last few weeks that has been causing him some issues.

“It’s a big blow because we were getting him back to his best, especially the way he played in our last game against Barcelona. He was in good condition, but now we’ve lost him.

“It’s something related to the previous injury he had and the surgery. He had some irritation and we had to get it resolved.

“We had to make a decision and the best one was to protect the player and get him back as quickly as possible, so we decided the surgeon had to go in and sort it out.”

Eddie Nketiah, who filled in for Jesus in 11 games last season, will likely lead the line for Arsenal at Wembley on Sunday.

Arteta, though, is adamant that the surgery won’t change the club’s plans for the probable transfer of Folarin Balogun, who is valued at £40 million.

He said: “The plans with Flo don’t change at all.

“Unfortunately we’re not going to have Gabby, but we have other options to play with different qualities and we’ll adapt.”

Bukayo Saka also missed last night’s 1-1 draw with Monaco in the Emirates Cup after initially being named among the substitutes.

Arteta said: “Bukayo was fine but he wasn’t feeling great on the bench. I think he has some sickness or illness and we didn’t want to use him.”

Oleksandr Zinchenko is another major injury concern for Arteta after failing to participate in any of Arsenal’s five pre-season games due to a persistent calf injury.

The Ukrɑinian international will not be involved against former club Manchester City on Sunday but Arteta insisted: “He’s close. I think he’s going to start training with the team and hopefully we will have him back very soon.”

Last night, Nketiah scored the equalizer for Arsenal in front of former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger before Aaron Ramsdale’s save from Takumi Minamino gave the Gunners the win in the ensuing penalty shootout.

Arteta said: “It was a good work-out for the players but we were still a bit leggy and jet-lagged after the flight home from America.

“We’ve trained really hard over the last three days and we wanted that test for them to see how they cope when they’re not fresh enough to compete.”