Arsenal finally step up striker transfer after signing just 1 forward in 7 years

Arsenal are set to be heavily involved in the transfer market this summer as they bid to sign a new attacker that they desperately need and Mikel Arteta is monitoring three players in particular

The need for a top level striker has been glaringly obvious to every Arsenal fan. And now, finally, the club has woken up to the need to get a centre forward at all costs this summer.

Incredibly, Arsenal have signed just ONE striker in the past seven years despite spending nearly £700m on new signings during Mikel Arteta's five-and-a-half year reign.

Gabriel Jesus arrived for £50m from Manchester City in the summer of 2022 and, while Kai Havertz has played up front, he was actually originally signed as a midfielder. It highlights a blind spot in Arteta’s vision for his squad and has proved to be a huge oversight and the reason why Arsenal have fallen so short this season.

They are determined to get a top quality No9 and Arsenal’s new sporting director Andrea Berta has been charged with delivering a centre forward to get the goals to deliver trophies.

Sporting Lisbon striker Viktor Gyokeres is high on their shortlist while Arteta remains a huge admirer of Newcastle ’s Alexander Isak and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko is a long-term target.

Isak may be out of reach for Arsenal this summer as Newcastle do not want to sell and believe Champions League football will be their trump card. Sesko has youth on his side and, rather like with Isak, is quick, agile and Arsenal know he would be interested having held extensive discussions last summer before he eventually decided to stay put.

But what Gyokeres offers is goals - 98 in 100 appearances for Sporting - and, while the Portuguese league is far from the demands of the Premier League, he has Champions League experience and proven quality. That has been sorely lacking from Arsenal’s forward options this season and, as if to prove it, none of their forwards have even hit double figures in the Premier League this season.

Incredibly, Havertz is still the nine goal top scorer - and not only is he not a natural striker but he has been out since February. That is just staggering. Bukayo Saka has missed a huge chunk of the season while Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli both have eight goals each but are wide players. Jesus is out with a long-term knee injury.

It is so glaringly obvious where Arsenal’s issues lie and that does raise major question marks about the recruitment last summer and also their failure to get a striker in January. Arteta got quite shirty in his pre-match press conference last week when quizzed over the striker search and the failure to get one.

It cannot all fall on him but the Arsenal manager certainly championed the signing of Mikel Merino and Riccardo Calafiori last summer for a combined £75m and he also wanted Raheem Sterling in the last knockings of the window.

Sterling has barely played and taken up a loan spot which could have been used in January. Calafiori was injury-prone in Italy and has been again. Merino looks a good squad player and has done a job as an emergency striker but they really needed a proper No 9.

Yet it is quite comical that their first summer deal is likely to be Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi and, even though he is a top class Spain international, he is a defensive midfielder.

After a season when they have been crying out for a striker, it is ironic they will end up with another midfielder. Maybe they could get another left back for good measure. They also want a left winger - Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams is on their list - to provide chances for their new striker.

But the pressure has never been greater than now to deliver a new No 9. The last striker they signed before the seven-year barren spell was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January 2018.

The great irony with that was that a lot of fans were asking: “Why do we need him?” as they already had Alexandre Lacazette. Aubameyang went on to score lots of goals and help Arsenal win the FA Cup before being moved on. Now, just one striker will do. And he cannot come quickly enough.