Standard Sport understand that Jesus was in the midst of a three-way transfer battle between Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham.
Spurs eventually turned their attention to Richarlison, who they signed to a deal worth up to £60million. Chelsea switched to Raphinha – also an Arsenal target – only to see the Brazilian go to Barcelona.
This allowed Arsenal a free run on Jesus and a £45 million deal was quickly agreed and completed.
Jesus’ agent Marcelo Pettinati has now claimed that Chelsea have rekindled their interest in Jesus, but it turned out too late in the day.
“Chelsea was one of the teams that tried to hijack the transfer from Arsenal,” said Pettinati.
“They’ve been trying really hard to get it the last few days. At that point, we had already chosen our new project.”