GABRIEL JESUS has used his free time after being dropped by Brazil to get a new tattoo - with a very special meaning.
The Manchester City striker has been in and out of the side this season, but it was still surprising that he missed out on the Samba Boys' international friendlies.
So Jesus took a trip to a tattoo parlour where he paid out for some new ink, with one in tribute to a former friend who was murdered.
While playing for the academy team at Palmeiras in Brazil, his team-mate and good friend Tininho was shot dead aged 16.
Speaking about that fateful day, Jesus said: “I remember him a lot. It sends shivers through me just to think of it.
“It’s difficult. But I know that God saved a very good place for him up there.”
Academy coach Bruno Petri shed some light on how close the duo had been.
Petri said: “A lot of people said that Tininho would get close to Gabriel, who had a lot of affection for him.
“They came from a similar area, they identified with each other, and always supported each other.”
So the 21-year-old has had a photo of Tininho replicated into a tattoo on his thigh.
Most Read In Football
SunSport has previously reported on Jesus' tough upbringing in Brazil, including his father leaving his mother when pregnant with him, then later dying, and also his brother-in-law being killed in a motorcycle accident.
Then followed the death of his close friend which the footie star thinks about every day.
Jesus also has a tattoo of his mother Vera on his arm.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErKynZpOke7a3jqynqKqkZLOwu9ObmKWkX2x%2BeoWRcmtopZGjeqS107JkoJmSp7amuIyjnKyto2LBs7XBrqueZaSWwbW7zmadq6GVo7Fut8ilo56cXw%3D%3D