Henry. Bergkamp. Wright. George. These names struck fear in the opposing side’s defense. Since its founding, Arsenal have been known to have word-class strikers spearhead their attacks. But lately the names have become less glamorous– Giroud, Welbeck, Sanogo, Walcott– and as a result Arsenal have suffered from a lack of a Premier League Trophy since 2004.
Ever since Robin Van Persie’s €30.7 million to Manchester United, Arsenal have lacked a world-class striker to lead the front line. The signing of Giroud seemed promising, but was set-up to fail given Giroud’s lack of pace, instinctive finishing, and consistency that Van Persie provided. Since signing for Arsenal, he has scored 82 goals in 184 games in all competitions (transfermarkt). It seemed this was the year, however, that Arsenal would finally sign a world-class striker and truly challenge for the EPL title with the alleged signing of Jamie Vardy. But Vardy opted to stay at Leicester, refusing to give into the North London giants. Now, Gooners are facing a familiar story: Wenger signing a relatively unknown young striker instead of buying the instant impact striker they need.
Despite signing Asano, the void still needs to be filled at center forward. But who does Arsenal sign? Click ‘start slideshow’ to see three strikers Wenger should consider.
Mauro Icardi
Icardi has been linked with Arsenal for quite some time now, but Arsenal are hesitant to pull the trigger. At 35-40 million Euros, he’s expensive but cheap compared to the outrageous prices of Higuain and Morata. Icardi would bring to Arsenal goals, pace, hold up play similar to Giroud, and several years in his prime. Representing a signing for the future and today Icardi would seem like a much better choice than Vardy or Higuain. His weakness, however, is his lack of passing accuracy. Arsenal’s playing style is very much passing heavy and adding someone who had 73% pass success rate and 1 key pass the whole season (WhoScored) would be a liability.
Antoine Griezmann
After an outstanding Euro 2016, Griezmann would come at a steep price. But in this window where fees are seemingly a non-issue, Griezmann looks to be the perfect fit for Wenger and Arsenal: French, pacy, proven, and prolific. Best of all, the Euros showed how well he can work with Giroud, each becoming perfect foils for each other on France’s road to the finals.
Lucas Pérez
Another unknown striker, yet Lucas Pérez has something Sanogo or Asano does not, proven ability to score in a major league. Pérez enjoyed a breakout season in the la Liga last year, scoring 17 goals and notching 10 assists in 36 games for Deportivo La Coruña according to transfermarkt.com. Similar to Griezmann, Pérez has great dribbling and could work well as a foil to Giroud. The downside is that Pérez is a bit of a one season wonder so far, but at a value of 12 million Euros (transfermarkt.com), he could be a relatively low-risk high reward signing.
The Best Option?
With enough money in the transfer budget, Wenger should be able to afford any three of these strikers. The question is who? The most logical signing that would set Arsenal up for success would be Antoine Griezmann. Coming off of a great season and Euro, coupled with the compatibility with Giroud, Arsenal could form a formidable striker partnership to lead them to the Premier League trophy. Prying Griezmann away from Atletico should pose a significant obstacle, but Wenger’s French connection and ability to convince players, as we saw in the signing of Özil and Alexis, gives Arsenal a good chance of signing him.