Why Cole simply isn’t the right man for Arsenal

The transfer buzz is increasing that Arsenal will make a £9 million move for Carlton Cole during this January transfer window. The West Ham striker’s certainly improved a lot since his Chelsea days and is a pretty good striker these days with decent goalscoring ability. But that’s not enough. Arsenal’s hunt for a big man striker has to be more selective than it is simply because injury problems have made this need for a striker more of a need for a regular goalscoring striker as who else do they have to rely on? Although he can score goals, Cole misses plenty of chances before he puts one away (similar to his namesake Andy) and Arsenal could do a lot better – particularly for the money.

Obviously Cole’s price is higher than it should be because he’s English and also because he’s now become an England international but splashing out £9 million on a good-but-not-great striker when there’s better options out there seems hasty. Nicklas Bendtner and Robin van Persie are injured with no current sign of recovery for the latter and the former thought to be out for longer than first expected. Eduardo struggles for full fitness and has been shaky when he has played and Vela isn’t getting a chance – a top scoring forward is a necessity at this point in time, and Cole shouldn’t be that man.

Admittedly the other names that Arsenal have been linked with aren’t exactly perfect either – there’s Louis Saha who’s injury prone and ageing fast, Marouane Chamakh who’s unproven in the Premiership and has declared he won’t leave Bordeaux until the end of the season, Andre-Pierre Gignac who is also unproven outside of France and is believed to be quite unreliable at times and then the names that are linked far less frequently.

Edin Dzeko would be the perfect fit for Arsenal as he’s a free-scoring big man, although he is unproven in the Premiership. The problem here is that Dzeko is believed to prefer a move to Man United who have been linked to him. If Arsenal can beat United to his signature then they will have signed a top striker but the fee could prove a stumbling fee as Wolfsburg rate the Bosnian highly.

Adriano could also prove a great signing; he’s available on a free, has scored freely in Europe before, is a big man and is believed to be over his personal problems which would make him fine to play for Arsenal. The link to Arsenal has only appeared briefly but it’s not as bad a move as some would belief, Adriano could well do a job for Arsenal and he’d be much less of a risk than most others given his price tag.

Wenger would also do well to see if he can find a bargain price for one of Juventus’ strikers. The Italians possess David Trezeguet, Vincenzo Iaquinta and Amauri – all big men with good goal scoring records and, with the inability to play all three at once, would likely be willing to sell one should Arsenal meet their valuation.

Another problem with the proposed Cole signing is that the man himself is injured much like the Arsenal strikers who need replacing. Cole started this season is good scoring form but would he have kept it up if he’d stayed fit? There’s no guarantee as he is not a proven goalscorer from previous seasons. Yes he could flourish with better support at Arsenal but he could flop instead as several of Wenger’s English buys have done.

The problem in finding a better striker is the price they would cost yet Cole is not cheap himself. Clubs – including Arsenal – have received criticism in the past for signing cheap European alternatives to English players but it is just better business to deal in a player who’s just as good for a cheaper price. Wenger is a spotter of talent and familiar with world football, he can surely find a better alternative out there.