Back when Jese started his career as a Real Madrid home product, his future seemed bright and shiny. The style he played resembled that of a young Cristiano Ronaldo in the making. Unfortunately for him, a horrible knee injury kept him from a steady development and he cut short his growth. Now that Paris Saint-Germain is looking to turn him into a star, the comparisons with Zlatan Ibrahimovic already have him cornered.
But for Jese, being compared to one of the best strikers in recent football history is nothing more than an extra motivation. The youngster embraces those comparisons and hopes he can deliver even better performances than the ones Zlatan gave, this is something that will prove to be incredibly hard for him. However, the talent and disposition are both there, Jese has a great deal of self-confidence and trusts his instincts.
Talking to L'Equipe, Jese said: "The comparison with Zlatan Ibrahimovic? No, it's not hard. You know, in Madrid, others compared me to Cristiano Ronaldo. I do not want to compare myself with these great players. Zlatan Ibrahimovic brought the club to a very high international level. He did a lot of things. I come to work, to bring my qualities and to help the team achieve its goals."
Photo credit: Jese Rodriguez