Arsenal’s pursuit of a striker is well documented. Injuries to Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz this season have meant the Gunners have been lightweight up top, with Mikel Merino deployed as a forward in recent months.
football.london understands Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta are keen to bring in a new striker this summer, with the club keeping tabs on a number of frontmen across Europe. Alexander Isak, Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyokeres are just some of the players who have been linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium, with reports in Portugal even claiming the Gunners have submitted their first official offer for Gyokeres with an agreement over personal terms already reached.
The value of that offer is said to be £63.4million (€75million) which is roughly how much Sporting CP and Gyokeres have agreed he would be allowed to depart for. It’s possible, though, that those reports are slightly premature and the club are still scouring the market, with the summer window not opening until next month.
One player who could be a decent alternative to Gyokeres is Jonathan David. The Lille striker is out of contract this summer so would be available for nothing once his contract with the French side expires.
The 25-year-old certainly knows where the net is, too, having scored 25 goals in 48 appearances this season. The Canada international also has 12 assists.
It’s believed Arsenal are one of a handful of clubs who have scouted David, with Chelsea and Liverpool also reportedly interested. The Gunners moving for David would make sense, with the fact he would cost nothing a real positive as it could allow the north Londoners to spend money elsewhere.
football.london understands Arsenal are in prime position to sign Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi and the expectation from club officials is he will join in the summer. As well as a striker, the Gunners are also in the market for a back-up goalkeeper, defender and potentially a versatile wide player, too.
So, with Arsenal set to be extremely busy in the transfer window, signing someone like David for free could make sense. Arteta admitted how crucial it will be to improve the squad before the weekend clash with Liverpool.
“We knew from the beginning of the decision that our squad was super short and being super short we had some players that had a high probability of getting injured, because that’s what they had in the last few seasons. So we knew that and we cannot do anything about it,” Arteta said.
“That’s a big thing to win trophies, you know, and [Liverpool] did that extremely well. They managed to maintain that consistency, that level of players, a system, a coach, a stadium that has created again, and consistently, an incredible atmosphere for them.
“So you need a lot of ingredients or you don’t win the Premier League. That’s the difficulty of it, and it’s true that this season we never found that consistently because of the issues that we had.”
On the summer window, Arteta added: “We will do everything that we can to improve the team and especially improve the players that we already have and whatever the market offers to give us a better chance to win for sure we will try to do it.”
Whether Arsenal sign David, or someone else like Gyokeres, remains to be seen. No matter what happens, it promises to be a huge summer of transfer activity for the Gunners.
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