Jesé Rodríguez, born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1993, landed in Coritiba with unexpected controversy. Alef Manga, on loan at Pafos, claimed the number 11 assigned to the former Real Madrid player, expressing on Instagram: “This number already has a name: me.” However, Jesé was not intimidated by this situation. Despite the difficult sporting situation of Coritiba, which is in last place in the Brasileirao with 14 points and eight for safety reasons, the Spaniard was optimistic: “I am very happy to arrive in Curitiba. Together we will have a good second round,” he claimed.
However, his debut was not easy. Jesé made his debut on the field in a 1-5 defeat against Vasco de Gama and came into the game in the 58th minute with an unfavorable score of 3-0. The idea was for the Spaniard, who had not played for four months since his time at Sampdoria, to gradually gain fitness and integrate into coach Thiago Kosloski’s plans to form a forward line alongside Islam Slimani. But the reality is far from this expectation.
Disappeared on the playing fields
Since his arrival, Jesé has only played 78 minutes, all as a substitute in five different games, without scoring or providing an assist. He wasn’t even on the bench in the last two games, which ended in wins against América-MG (0-3) and Cruzeiro (1-0). Although his contract with Coritiba expires in December, it seems unlikely that he will help the team. Nevertheless, Thiago Kosloski supported Jesé by explaining that after long negotiations and no training with the team for 45 days, he found himself in a complicated situation, which required special preparation to adapt to the Brasileirao’s pace. However, with the game facing relegation battles, the coach has opted to give preference to better prepared players on the pitch.