Arsenal want to sign £54m Havertz replacement

It’s become impossible to ignore: Arsenal’s season is starting to fall apart.

Mikel Arteta’s side have dealt with a number of injuries, unnecessary suspensions and, at best, underwhelming performances on the pitch, which have left them nine points off Liverpool on top of the Premier League.

However, while things look grim for the North Londoners, there is still time to get their campaign back on track, especially if they make the most of the January transfer window.

Fortunately, recent reports suggest that they may well do that, as the latest star touted for a move to N5 is an imposing striker who could be the ideal Kai Havertz replacement and has even been compared to Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland.

Arsenal transfer news

According to a recent report by journalist Rudy Galetti, Arsenal are interested in Juventus’ star striker, Dušan Vlahović.

The respected reporter has revealed that the Serie A giants are “open to letting Dusan go,” and that the Gunners have been “monitoring” his situation and are “expected to meet his agent soon to gather fresh information.”

There is no mention of a potential price in the report, but Transfermarkt values him at €65m, which is about £55m, and with his contract expiring in 19 months, combined with the Old Lady’s willingness to let him go, that seems like a realistic price.

It would still represent a sizeable investment from Arsenal, but given Vlahovic’s ability in front of goal and the comparisons to Haaland and Mbpabbe, it could be one worth making, especially as he could be the dream replacement for Havertz.

Why Vlahović would be an ideal Havertz replacement

Okay, so before we get to the comparison between Vlahović and the man he’d have to displace from Arsenal’s starting lineup, let’s examine this comparison to arguably the best players in the world right now: Mbappé and Haaland.

The comparison stems from an interview with football agent Roberto De Fanti in January 2022, before the Serbian star moved to Turin.

In the interview, De Fanti described the then 22-year-old poacher as possessing “all the attributes to become a big star” and that, due to him being so young and yet so exciting at the time, he was “one of those guys on the list like Mbappé and Halland which all the European clubs will want to buy.”

Now, it would be fair to say that the Belgrad-born marksman has not quite hit the heights of those two just yet, but during his time with Fiorentina, when the comparison was made, it looked like he might, as he left La Viola with an incredible record of 49 goals and eight assists in 108 appearances, equating to an average of a goal involvement every 1.92 games.

With all that said, how does the 31-capped international stack up to the Gunners’ number 29? After all, it’ll be him he needs to surpass to get regular game time in North London.

Fortunately for him, he’s comfortably outperformed the former Chelsea ace over the last few years, as since the start of the 22/23 campaign, the 24-year-old has found the back of the net on 41 occasions and provided eight assists in 96 appearances, equating to a goal involvement on average every 1.95 games.

In contrast, the Gunners’ Aachen-born poacher has scored 30 goals and provided nine assists in 115 appearances, which comes to an average of a goal involvement every 2.94 games.

Unfortunately for the German, not even his average of a goal involvement every 2.34 games for the Gunners is better than the man who may soon replace him.

Ultimately, while it won’t be cheap, adding Vlahovic’s goals to the team in January is a no-brainer, even if it impacts Havertz’s game time. Therefore, Arsenal should act on their interest as soon as possible.

Related

Arsenal must finally sell £3m flop who was supposed to be the next Saka

The promising youngster couldn’t make it work since his big move to Arsenal.