Last season was Arsenal’s best chance to finish the as Premier League champions, yet it was wrecked as they failed to take the level of advantage of underperforming rivals as Leicester did and so it was they that were crowned the winners.
Arsene Wenger’s inability to recruit a quality striker has duly drawn a lot of criticism. A lot of chances created by the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez went begging due to Oliver Giroud’s lack of finishing ability and Danny Welbeck’s injury ravaged season.
A striker must be Wenger’s top priority and here are FIVE options to resolve their goalscoring woes.
1. Alvaro Morata
Rumours to be believed, Real Madrid exercised their buy back clause to get Alvaro Morata back from Juventus to sell the Spaniard for a profit. The European champions reportedly want £67million for the 23-year-old attacker, which has deterred clubs like Chelsea and Arsenal.
The striker has a good amount of confidence and possesses big game mentality, but doesn’t have a very impressive goals to games ratio. Cracking this transfer might seem tricky for Wenger because goalscoring isn’t much evident from the Spaniard yet.
2. Romelu Lukaku
Although Lukaku plays for Everton, his past affiliations with Chelsea and Jose Mourinho (rivals of Arsenal and Arsene Wenger respectively) could be a major block for the transfer. Nonetheless, Lukaku has been a good striker for his clubs. He has scored more than 10 goals in his two seasons for Everton and during his loan spell at West Brom. The 23 year old Belgian is blessed with a good physique and speed, quite a rare combination and can be a success at Arsenal.
But Ronald Koeman is unwilling to part with the Belgian and will demand more than £55 million for the striker. Although goals have flowed, the big Belgian is not quite clinical in his finishing and his inconsistency might not encourage Wenger to stump a huge fee.
3. Mario Mandzukic
The arrival of Gonzalo Higuain might reduce game time for Mandzukic at Juventus and Wenger could swoop in to capture the temperamental and fiery Croatian. Good in air, a decent finisher and not afraid to get his hands dirty, the marksman will be a good competitor to Oliver Giroud.
Now 30, Mandzukic is not the long term option that Wenger could be looking for. But according to transfermarkt.com, Mandzukic has registered more bookings than assists in his footballing career, he could be Arsenal’s own Diego Costa.
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4. Mauro Icardi
Since his move to Inter Milan, the Argentine has not failed to impress. 52 goals in 105 appearances, meaning a goal in every two appearances for the San Siro outfit, scoring has never been a problem for Icardi. Serie A’s top goalscorer in 2014/15 season, the Argentine would be dejected to see himself not playing in the Champions League.
Napoli has been linked with a £40million move for Icardi to replace Higuain at the club. Rather selling to a direct rival, Inter Milan might be tempted to sell the Argentine to the London based club at the same price.
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5. Alexandre Lacazette
Arsenal might have to up the bid after their £29.5million offer for Alexandre Lacazette was rejected by Lyon.
Although in the last season, the striker wasn’t quite sharp in the first half of the season but bounced back by scoring a plenty of goals in the later stages. A total of 54 goals in 84 matches for Lyon in past two seasons, the French striker is undoubtedly a good finisher. Hailing from the same nation as that of Giroud, a strong partnership and a healthy competition could be expected.
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