STRIKER PROFILE

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So the shape of our summer is starting to ebb out into the media.

  • Darwin Nunes
  • Youri Tielemans
  • Marcus Rashford
  • I suspect we’ll read some bits about Rúben Neves at some point as well.

All four names move us up a level, no question about it. Tielemans is the hottest and most likely. He isn’t going to sign a new deal with Leicester, he has 1 year left to go on his deal, I suspect Sambi Lokonga and maybe even Thierry (who loves him) have whispered some things in his ear.

What I like about the players we’re linked to is they all sit in a very specific category of players.

Just look at the lead strikers we’ve been linked with.

  • Vlahovic
  • Tammy
  • DCL
  • Nunes
  • Alex Isak
  • Rashford
  • Haaland (lol)

The commonality is clear.

Tall and wirey: A little like Adebayor. Setpieces have been a big feature of our game this season, but we haven’t had a striker that can do things in the box. Height and power is going to be huge for us this summer. I know holding the ball up isn’t just the preserve of the tall, but it sure helps when you have a large wingspan. We will have an actual target man that can challenge in the air as well. All this talk of Jesus and Jonathan David… I’m just not sure our main striker will be shorter than 6ft1.

Speed & Power: Lacazette does an exceptional job at linking play, but his main weakness is he can’t link play then attack the box. He doesn’t have the power. All the linked strikers look like they have some speed in the legs. I think Alex Isak is the fastest of the lot, but I suspect he’ll be very low down the pecking order because he doesn’t score goals. I have Rashford in my list above, but I suspect any attempt at bringing him to Arsenal will be because he’s so flexible in where he can play, he’s is one of the fastest in the league, that pace under a great coach could be fine tuned and honed without doubt.

Goals: We can just continue that previous point about Alex Isak. Just take a moment to remember the hysterics from the base this January when people wanted to gamble £75m him. He’s scored 1 goal in the league since November 1st. Can you imagine the vitriol Edu and Arteta would be getting if he’d have tanked that bad for us? Whoever we sign needs to have a record of goals. I don’t want to need to read and essay about why we’re signing a striker that doesn’t have them. We have £60m to spend, we don’t need to debate whether goals are important, the are THE thing we need if we’re to affect the top 2. Tammy has 23 goals in Italy, an extremely tough league to score in. Darwin has 26 in 33. Rashford has nearly 100 Premier League goals before he’s 25.

Link-up play: I don’t think we’ll be looking for a player to do exactly the same as Lacazette. I think Laca over compensates with link-up play because he’s lost his edge with goals. But it is imperative that the striker we sign is not THE solution to our goals, because that lessens the unpredictability Arteta has been baking into the side this season. Season 1 of Mikel was all about Auba, if he didn’t score, we didn’t score. When his goals dried up, so did our progress.

We need a striker that can act as a creator, a player that causes problems in front of goal, but also with their vision. Rashford has a goal or assist every other game, he’s as much a provider as he is a finisher. I think creativity will factor into who we sign as well. Even if it isn’t apparent with the numbers, it will be a consideration as to whether they can develop some of that in their game. Remember fans saying Ramsdale was a hoofer at Sheff U? Well, the scouts knew Chris Wilder signed him for other reasons, then he was sacked. The club knew Bournemouth weren’t a hoofer team. Certain things aren’t always present in the seasons priors data.

Age: Remember the target: Arsenal want to be competing for the league in 2 years time. The plan was Europe this season, Champions League the season after, title contending the season after. If you sign Lewa, you’ll have a 37 yr old leading the line when you are fully baked as a team. We need to look at younger players that can grow with us. Don’t expect anyone over the age of 25 and don’t expect them to hit peak after game one. We’ll sign someone that can develop with us.

Character: I read a Tammy tweet from when he was a kid, he said something like, ‘I’m to be trying to be in FIFA to worry about playing it’. That’s a great line and it gives a small glimpse into who he is as a character. Nunez has made it out of South America to Europe, that is a beast of a journey, he will have the right character. Rashford is just a best in class human. We need to continue to the focus on the people we’re bringing in.

We aren’t signing an ego, we aren’t signing someone that’ll kill our wage structure, we will do our research and ask around. We have a lean squad of players that all want to be at Arsenal right now… that culture needs to be gently grown. No dickheads.

Ok, that’s all I have time for today.

Call your mum, right now. x

 

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Emiratesstroller

Pedro Arsenal were prepared to spend a “serious” transfer fee in January on Vlahovic a “prolific” goalscorer. So there is no reason to believe that the club will not be prepared to spend a similar sum of money if not more in the summer transfer window. That is clearly not the issue for Arsenal. The main problem at the moment is that “top class” goalscorers are in short supply and most of those who could be potentially available this summer are on the wrong side of 30 and coming to end of their careers. Some of the candidates who have… Read more »

Positive pete

Think no 1 forward target at this stage is Nunez & possible second striker the club might add would be Jovic( Madrid) for a knockdown fee.A big no to Rashford .Never,ever get any luck from Man U & Chelsea castoffs.Avoid at any cost.
MF interesting.possibly two purchases again.A no for Tielemans.Would prefer Ruby Neves.plus a Touchameni if possible.

Emiratesstroller

My view is that there is not a single striker who could be available this summer whose potential transfer fee is beyond our budget and that includes Haaland and Mbappe.

The problems would be Arsenal’s current status as a club, the agent’s fees and the wages which the player will demand.

The two CF options that Arsenal should focus on and are realistic targets are Nunez and David.Both are 20+ goals a season players. Neither player would destabilise our wage structure.

Rich

ES Past successes are no guarantee or future successes, and past failures, are no guarantee of future failures. We signed Odegaard, Ramsdale, White, last summer, all for biggish money, in a decimated market. We didn’t sign anyone of those players based on the players they were, we punted on their potential, and the players we thought they could become in the system we were trying to implement. Football is often about styles, one player could be a dream for a certain manager, but for another manager, that players style of play could be a nightmare. I agree with you that… Read more »

Crimson

Looking at the new all black shirt for next season.
Might get one for the first time in years. ❤🖤❤

Naija+soccer

Will Smith smacking Chris Rock in front of the whole world ???

Talk about losing your shit.

Love the guy but he needs to stop before he becomes a joke.

Naija+soccer

Ever since his wife’s ‘entanglement’ , Will’s reputation been taking some Mike Tyson like hits.

Naija+soccer

Jonathan David and Nunez are my candidates, the former would be the best fit I think.

Mika Biereth is a star in the making. If we give him some runs in the first team, it wouldn’t surprise me if he takes his chance, Eminem “opportunity only comes but once in a lifetime, do not miss a chance to blow” style.

Naija+soccer

Looks like he got that true git/talent.

Habesha Gooner

I think we need to sign two forwards this summer. One has to be a top CF. The other a primarily right winger who can also play on the left. Pepe needs to be sold for whatever fee we can recoup for him. I think we need to give Balogun a chance as a backup. If he isn’t cutting it then we can alternate 4 of our attacking third players (one being the new winger+ Saka, Odegaard and ESR) behind Martinelli. And that is also if our main striker is out for some ti.e. . Our academy players need to… Read more »

Sid

Laca was Not prolific in France 2014/15 he had 27 goals, 8 of them penalties.
0.6 per 90 mins.

Naija+soccer

So even if you take out the 8 penalties, he would have scored 19 goals and 8 assists in 33 appearances.
27 g/a in 33.

If you add his penalties which you must because he has earned them then his stats are 27 goals and 8 assists in 33. Thats 35g/a in 33 appearances.

Prolific#

Karsa

lACA 53 goals in the 2 seasons before joing us.

Naija+soccer

At Lyon, Laca pretty much averaged a goal or assist per game. Every game he will either score or assist.

At Arsenal he’s averaging a goal or assist every other game. Yeah he’s doing it every other game whether its an assist or a goal.

Naija+soccer

Also unpopular opinion but Saliba is a better defender than Ben White in this present moment. I ve noticed that Ben White has a slight concentration problem.

Gabriel + White being our best CB duo is not a forgone conclusion. So yeah would love to have Saliba back to prove himself

Rich

Lacazette 2016/17: 37 goals + 5 assists 3477 minutes 82 minutes per goal contribution Lacazette is a decent enough player, who gives 100%, but he was a £50 million striker, earning big money, who was a slight downgrade on Giroud. It’s always risky buying players from other league’s, there’s no guarantee they’ll carry on, or improve their current output: Darwin Nunez 2021/22 26 goals + 2 assists 2165 minutes 77 minutes per goal contribution £50 million or anything north of that, would be a big punt, he’s not a £50 million player, we’d be gambling that he’d settle, and quickly… Read more »

youdaman

Harry Kane Anyone? Would be the perfect fit.
Their Captain worked out for us before.

Positive pete

Can’t carry any “ lightweights”.Prem centre half’s will have them for breakfast.cajoles of steel reqd.

Jim Lahey

We rinsed Madrid for Ødegaard, you love to see it.

Mulerise14

What’s the update on Saka and the Smith? hopefully they are fit for crystal palace,we sure need all the arrows in our quiver.

Rich

Jim

Phenomenal talent, already one of the best in the league, so excited to see how he develops.

When you combine his level of talent, with his level of work-rate, exciting things happen.

I’m confident he’ll develop into one of the worlds standout attacking midfielders, I can’t believe we got a free shot at him for £30-£35 million.

Freddie Ljungberg

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/arsenal-exclusive-mesut-ozils-problem-is-that-he-had-problems-with-everyone-says-nacho-monreal

“Ozil’s problem is that he had problems with everyone,” shrugs Monreal. “It ended badly with Wenger, he didn’t play the last few games with him, then Emery tried to bring him back and make him our leader.

“To begin with, he gave him a lot of confidence and Mesut played a lot, but the coach understood there were other teammates who were in better condition. Ozil was one of the best players in the team, one of the best paid, but they saw he wasn’t at the level required.”

Interesting read.

S23

Would like to see if Saint-Maximum would fancy a change of scenery.
Also,I am not 100% confident we will get over the line to 4th,I just feel things seem to conspire against us and we have an Everton performance in the background,hope not but I have a sneaking suspicion Kane is coming into form at the right time.
Either way,I am more than happy with the job by Arteta so far.

Naija+soccer

Rich

Yesterday someone claimed that Odegaard lacks fire unlike Cesc Fabregas.

What do you think ?

Freddie Ljungberg

Any thoughts on the rumoured £50m real madrid interest in Tierney?

I love the guy but I’d probably take that, considering his injury history and the fact he’s not as effective in this setup (going forwards).

If we want to get big fees for players so we can be self sustainable we’ll have to do deals like this sometimes.
We’d need a quality replacement that won’t cost that much though or it’s not worth it.

If we could get that and someone like Gakpo for Tierneys fee it could be a good deal for us.

Rich

Naija + soccer Anyone who doesn’t rate Odegaard, hasn’t got a clue about football. He’s a leader on the pitch, a model professional off it, and at 23, is already one of the league’s standout attacking midfielders, his ability in tight spaces is different class. Odegaard reminds me a lot of David Silva. I loved Cesc until he signed for Chelsea, brilliant player, a real joy to watch, and possibly our greatest player of the Emirates era, I could understand him wanted to go to Barca at the time, they were the best in the world, but I couldn’t even… Read more »

Spudnik

Jim Lahey, that MO video was utter joy.

Chika

I also support the idea that we should sign one striker and a forward who can operate across the front three, especially the right wing. Martinelli can serve as a back striker, and like a poster mentioned, our young players need to see the possibility of a pathway.

Emiratesstroller

Rich Most of the strikers and forwards who have been linked with Arsenal are not novices. They have been around for some times. So when it comes to scoring goals they have a track record. Currently there are very few centre forwards under the age of 25 who have a track record as prolific goalscorers. That applies in my view to several of the players who have been talked about.Frankly I don’t see Isak, Rashford or Calvert Lewin solving our goal scoring problem. They may be good players, but they are not on current evidence clinical finishers. If we are… Read more »

Positive pete

What a compilation of Odegaard talent we’ve already seen at Arsenal.

Emiratesstroller

Rich

You have suggested on more than one occasion that Arsenal recruit Felix.

I would not disagree that Felix is a potential “world class” footballer, but I don’t think that he
is someone who will solve our centre forward goal scoring problem.

Arsenal will need still to buy a striker even if we were to follow your advice and recruit Felix
as well.

Rich

ES It depends on the balance of the team, do we really want a player who scores 40% of our goals? That we build the whole team around? I’m not convinced of the argument that’s a healthy place for us to be. Or is it a healthier situation to have 5-6 players who all chip in with doubles figures, and focus on the collective? I can see both Saka + Martinelli developing into 20 goal a season players. Smith Rowe should be good for 10-15, Odegaard should be good for 10. There’s plenty of internal improvements to come with this… Read more »

Topside Northbank

Tierney links with Real Madrid. Pure clickbait. But if somehow it has legs. Not the profile player they go for certainly at full back they prefer someone that overlaps first rather than being defensively minded. Tierney as a person I really don’t think he would be that interested in moving to Madrid foreign language and a goldfish bowl of a football club where you have little privacy off the park.I would guess he prefers London life amd Arsenal as a club with young players that he can grow with.added to the fact he signed a new contract last summer until… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Rich

Arsenal are 25-30 goals short of what Liverpool and Manchester City are currently able to deliver. That is a considerable gap to fill with current personnel available.

I think that Martinelli, Saka, Smith-Rowe and Pepe are all capable of scoring 10-15 goals each, but none of these players is likely to score 20+ goals.

If we are going to recruit a conventional CF that should be the expectation if we are landing
up spending £60-70 million in transfer market on this position.

Nigel Tufnel

Rich,

Well described as to why Arteta doesn’t use Pepe more.

He’s more of an individual player, and even when he’s working hard, he doesn’t combine well enough with teammates to maintain or win possession.

It’s why I wanted to see him a cf, because I think that would be much less of a problem in that position.

So you’d have the upside of his goal productivity, more pace on breaks, and less of what he’s not good at.

Even Ramsdale could aim more long balls at him as well as Martinelli and Saka.

LoveSausage

With the right CF, I don’t think we’re too far off being able to score 80-90 goals per season. Saka, ESR, and Martinelli should contribute 45 together. They’re all young and might have form dips but the talent is clearly there. Odegaard needs to do 7-10. Replace Xhaka with a Neves and you’ll have potential for another 7-10. 20 from the CF, plus a few from the likes of Gabriel and TP from corners and we’re cooking.

AFC Forever

Jim Lahey “We rinsed Madrid for Ødegaard, you love to see it.” Absolutely. In fact, we pulled down their under crackers and smacked their bare arses so hard the slap could be heard in Norway…..!! Thanks for uploading that video Jim. I copped plenty of abuse for rating Odegaard. Odegaard’s close control, vision and awareness are on another level to most players. Some of that is uncoachable, it’s pure natural talent. Reminds me a bit of Santi Cazorla, what a player he was. He’s only young, 23, Captain of his National team and with regular game time he will only… Read more »

GD

When Nacho MONREAL goes in two footed on ya then I might agree with the terms like “divisive and cancerous”
in describing Mesut Ozil

Dissenter

GD
Thanks for that Ozil article link

It puts into perspective some of the difficulties Emery had , Arteta would go on to have similar problems until the club backed him and took a financial loss on Ozil.
When people say Emery lost the dressing room, imagine trying to manage and his compatriots like Mustafa and the Kolasinac.

Rich

ES Saka will develop into a 20+ goals player He’s bagged 10 this season, he’s scored 6 in his last 10 league games, 7 in his last 11. Expecting him to get another 4-5 in our final 10 games is realistic. If he scores roughly 15 goals at aged 20, then there’s a more than reasonable expectation he’ll add at least another 5, between the age of 21-23 Saka will become a consistent scorer, and one of the worlds best wide players, I’m in little doubt about that Martinelli still has a few rough edges, but he’s 20 coming from… Read more »

AFC Forever

Breaking News: As a consequence of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at last nights Oscar’s ceremony, Manchester United have been awarded a penalty and Granit Xhaka has been sent of for violent conduct. A points deduction will be discussed when the Premier League meet after the ‘boring’ International break.

Habesha Gooner

I liked Will Smith. I loved his movies. I think his personal life is crap with all the noise. And I think his woman is a manipulative bitch. And he just proved that he is a Beta Male.

Kudos to Chris Rock. Handled it like a Champ. Could have destroyed him with endless jokes right there but chose the high road.

Dissenter

The best thing about the ridiculous brouhaha is the mass dissemination of public information regarding alopecia
Who cares which Hollywood drama queen slapped the other. The people outside the Dolby theatre are dealing with real life issues like surviving inflation and high gas prices. Then there’s Ukraine being bombed the shit out buy Russia.
The academy [AMPAS] ought to be happy that that silly slap has put their ceremony back in the news.

Nigel Tufnel

Arsene said it best, something like… if you love football, you must love Martin Ødegaard.

Incredible compilation from little more than 1 season with us.

The assists and key passes will explode for him next season. Not so much about the new striker, but that, plus everything else coming together. This time last season neither ESR or Saka had confidence like they do now.