Arsenal striker Gabriel Jesus is officially the most picked player in Fantasy Premier League history.
The Brazilian has been selected by 72.5 percent of Fantasy Premier League managers ahead of the new campaign that kicks off on Friday evening.
The £45million signing from Manchester City has had a prolific pre-season so far scoring seven goals including two on his debut and a hat-trick in Sunday’s 6-0 destruction of Sevilla.
He is one of five forwards to cost £8m starting out in the FPL – that’s cheaper than Harry Kane and Erling Haaland who would set you back £11.5m and Cristiano Ronaldo at £10.5m.
The other forwards costing £8m are Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Chelsea’s German stars Kai Havertz and Timo Werner and Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino.
Almost three quarters of FPL users are intent on using Jesus to fire them to glory and judging by his start to life at the Emirates, the 25-year-old is in the mood to rack up some points this season.
Other popular picks are Chelsea shot-stopper Edouard Mendy and Liverpool stars Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah.
Arsenal fans will be hoping Jesus can fire the Gunners into the top four this season following the disappointment of missing out on Champions League qualification last May to arch-rivals Tottenham.
Jesus replaced outgoing Frenchman Alexandre Lacazette and so far the signs are good as they eye a return to European football’s top table for the first time since 2018.
Boss Mikel Arteta has been active in this summer’s transfer market with the additions of Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City, Porto’s Fabio Vieira, Brazilian teenager Marquinhos and USA goalkeeper Matt Turner.
The Gunners kick-off the Premier League season on Friday night with a tricky trip to Selhurst Park to face Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace.