Arsenal legend Ian Wright has warned that his old club can’t afford to get it wrong when it comes to moving for a major striker signing.
It seems very clear that the Gunners need more in attack next season, with Mikel Arteta’s side arguably already lacking something even before the very bad luck of getting so many long-term injuries all at once.
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All four of Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli are out at the moment, with two of them not expected to play again until next season.
Still, Wright has warned that Arsenal need to be careful in this current market, where there aren’t necessarily that many obvious players out there who look like being the right fit.
See below as the pundit discusses this on the latest episode of The Overlap, with the former England international naming Rasmus Hojlund and Darwin Nunez as the kind of expensive flops that his old club can’t afford…
Jamie Carragher also seems to agree that there aren’t that many top strikers out there at the moment, with the likes of United and Chelsea also clearly struggling to find one in recent windows.
Should Arsenal have done more in the last two transfer windows?
Even if there’s a risk Arsenal could have splashed the cash on a flop like Hojlund or Nunez, it perhaps seems like it might have at least been worth the gamble.
Otherwise, the outcome is the one we’re seeing, with Arsenal desperately lacking enough options up front and relying on midfielder Mikel Merino playing out of position there.
Arsenal will argue that waiting until the summer was the right choice as it’s easier to get the best deals done then, but it means this season is probably going to be a total write-off.
The north Londoners are now surely too far behind to catch Liverpool in the title race, and they’re likely to face similar struggles in the Champions League with so many key players out injured.