surprised

Gabriel Jesus claims he was forced to train alone before Barcelona move, but Arsenal ‘surprised’ by criticism.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said he was “very surprised” by Gabriel Jesus’s claim that he was forced to train alone and was given no information prior to joining Barcelona.

Jesus ended his four-year spell with the Gunners in September and has since made it clear he felt disappointed with the way his exit was handled.

The Brazilian striker said in an interview this week that “out of nowhere they put me to train apart from the group,” adding that “nobody told me nothing” before he signed for Barcelona.

Responding to Jesus’s criticism, Arteta insisted he had spoken to the former Manchester City star about the transfer and had parted on good terms.

“Very surprised, to be fair. Especially because with Gabi (Jesus) I had an individual talk in the dressing room,” he told reporters on Friday.

“I don’t know what words were said; it’s fine. The words that we used were all about gratitude.”

Arteta also came under fire from former Arsenal striker Ian Wright, who recently said he was “uncomfortable” with what he perceived to be a lack of dialogue between the club and Gabriel Martinelli, who moved to Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal on September 3.

But Arteta used the presence of Leandro Trossard, who was sold to Besiktas in July, to watch Arsenal’s victory over Chelsea last weekend as an example of the club’s bond with their former players.

“I don’t know, it’s OK. Sometimes I understand that when you have to deliver bad news, or news that people don’t expect, somebody has to be the bad cop. If I have to be, I have to be and I understand,” he said, before the Premier League champions’ trip to Sunderland on Saturday.

“What is important is normally what happens three months or six months later. When Trossard comes, he’s in the dressing room with all of us, the atmosphere and the relationship you have.

“Thank God so far that with all the players that left, at some point the relationship has been really good. I hope this is the same case.”

LONDON — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, were surprised by the way Buckingham Palace released a letter that made clear they remain non-working members of the royal family even though they have returned to the United Kingdom.

The letter, sent on behalf of King Charles III to senior government and military officials, caught the couple off guard when it was released to the media on Monday in part because they were given little time to review or comment on its contents, a person familiar with the discussions said.

The couple’s representatives received a copy of the letter just one hour and 12 minutes before it was released to news outlets, the person said. That left them with little time to respond because they were unable to reach Harry, who was in a meeting, until just two minutes before the letter was released, the person added.

The letter said Harry and Meghan would continue to refrain from using the formal royal titles, such as his royal highness and her royal highness, as they have done since stepping back from official royal duties in 2020. Any charity work the couple undertakes will be carried out in a private capacity, and operational security decisions are matters for the relevant police agencies, the letter said.

“To help avoid doubt or confusion, The King has directed that (this) information be shared,” the Lord Chamberlain, the most senior official in the royal household, said in the letter.

Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties in 2020 when they moved to North America to make their own living through lucrative deals with Netflix and Spotify. At the time, Queen Elizabeth II made clear that the couple could not be part-time royals and they had to give up their royal positions if they wanted to pursue such commercial arrangements. Charles reiterated that position after he became king in 2022.

The couple’s reaction to the letter, which confirms that their status remains unchanged, highlights tensions surrounding their return to the U.K. Some palace observers have expressed concern that Harry and Meghan’s presence in Britain could allow them to establish a sort of parallel royal court that would compete with working members of the royal family.

The security question is particularly sensitive because Harry has fought a long-running battle with the government for the restoration of publicly funded police protection, which was canceled when the couple gave up their royal roles.

Any decision about whether to restore the couple’s round-the-clock police protection is a matter for a government panel known as RAVEC, or the Royal and VIP Executive Committee. The committee is expected to meet this week, the person familiar with the discussions said.

Kirka writes for the Associated Press.