If you’re wondering if you’ve read this piece, or something not too dissimilar before, it’s probably because you have. Last year, the season before that and, most likely, the other two seasons that followed since Robin van Persie’s controversial move to Manchester United in 2012.
Arsenal’s hunt for a top striker has entered its fourth year and with the lack of genuine high quality candidates available being coupled with the fact that some of the more popular names to be associated with Arsenal in the off-season have already found new clubs, you wouldn’t bet against the Gunners eventually looking to fill the void left by Van Persie with, well, the man himself.
There are a still a few candidates out there for Arsenal to look at, however, before the thought of a comeback begins to creep into one’s mind definitively. Here are three strikers that could calm the fans’ cravings for an elite goal-getter:
1 – Alexandre Lacazette
Club: Olympique Lyonnais
Nation: France
Age: 25
Nation: France
Age: 25
Lately, not a day goes by where the potential link-up between Arsenal and Alexandre Lacazette isn’t talked about in the papers. With the rumours comes Olympique Lyonnais’ president Jean-Michel Aulas, a seasoned professional when it comes to the transfer market. If reports in France are to be trusted, even the “irreplaceable” Lacazette has a price to his name and he’s there for the taking should Arsenal believe he’s good enough.
Despite toning down his appetite for goal in this past year, 54 goals and 12 assists in his last 84 appearances might suggest that he is, at the very least, worthy of the north Londoners’ attention. In the past two seasons, that’s 12 goals more than the often-maligned Olivier Giroud, who’s appeared 90 times for the Gunners in the past two seasons.
Averaging just over 0.6 goals a game, only the then Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a better ratio in Ligue 1 last season than a “below-par” Lacazette, who initially felt the full effects of Nabil Fekir’s injury, his Lyon strike partner, when scoring just six league goals from August to December.
Of those in Ligue 1 to have started consistently as a striker, only Paris Saint-Germain’s Edinson Cavani and Diego Rolan from Girondins Bordeaux managed to top Lacazette’s passing accuracy (78%), averaging 30.15 passes per game.
Closer to home, despite doubling Lacazette’s number of assists amassed during last season, Giroud trails his compatriot in both passing accuracy and the number of successful passes – 569 to 792 – pointing towards a greater involvement from Arsenal’s centre forward position should Lacazette arrive at the Emirates Stadium.
Acquiring the 25-year-old is sure to leave its mark on Arsenal’s transfer kitty, but with the Lyon man visibly quicker and more likely to fashion his own chances in comparison the Gunners’ number 12, Lacazette would at least offer Wenger a potentially decisive alternative to what’s often been Giroud’s one-man show over the past four years. With the stakes being as high as they are in the Premier League this season, providing answers and alternative methods through squad depth and differing player profiles becomes paramount to those vying for success.
Lately, not a day goes by where the potential link-up between Arsenal and Alexandre Lacazette isn’t talked about in the papers. With the rumours comes Olympique Lyonnais’ president Jean-Michel Aulas, a seasoned professional when it comes to the transfer market. If reports in France are to be trusted, even the “irreplaceable” Lacazette has a price to his name and he’s there for the taking should Arsenal believe he’s good enough.
Despite toning down his appetite for goal in this past year, 54 goals and 12 assists in his last 84 appearances might suggest that he is, at the very least, worthy of the north Londoners’ attention. In the past two seasons, that’s 12 goals more than the often-maligned Olivier Giroud, who’s appeared 90 times for the Gunners in the past two seasons.
Averaging just over 0.6 goals a game, only the then Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a better ratio in Ligue 1 last season than a “below-par” Lacazette, who initially felt the full effects of Nabil Fekir’s injury, his Lyon strike partner, when scoring just six league goals from August to December.
Of those in Ligue 1 to have started consistently as a striker, only Paris Saint-Germain’s Edinson Cavani and Diego Rolan from Girondins Bordeaux managed to top Lacazette’s passing accuracy (78%), averaging 30.15 passes per game.
Closer to home, despite doubling Lacazette’s number of assists amassed during last season, Giroud trails his compatriot in both passing accuracy and the number of successful passes – 569 to 792 – pointing towards a greater involvement from Arsenal’s centre forward position should Lacazette arrive at the Emirates Stadium.
Acquiring the 25-year-old is sure to leave its mark on Arsenal’s transfer kitty, but with the Lyon man visibly quicker and more likely to fashion his own chances in comparison the Gunners’ number 12, Lacazette would at least offer Wenger a potentially decisive alternative to what’s often been Giroud’s one-man show over the past four years. With the stakes being as high as they are in the Premier League this season, providing answers and alternative methods through squad depth and differing player profiles becomes paramount to those vying for success.
2 – Mauro Icardi
Club: Inter Milan
Nation: Argentina
Age: 23
Nation: Argentina
Age: 23
It’s highly unlikely that a footballing purist like Wenger would ever succumb to the presence of agent power, as demonstrated by Mauro Icardi’s representative and wife, Wanda Nara, in the past couple of months, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Nara’s comments in the media has seen Icardi’s name flirt with a move to Arsenal and, most recently, Napoli for fees as big as £50 million. Meanwhile many are led to believe she’s utilising the press for improved terms at Inter Milan, the prospect of a departure could well be a possibility due to the Italian giant’s need to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules.
The antics are far from exemplary, but with so little to choose from in an inflated transfer market, Icardi becomes one of the few potentially top class forwards seemingly available to a club like Arsenal.
This season, the 23-year-old’s goal-scoring tally (16 goals) in Serie A was bettered only by A.C. Milan’s Carlos Bacca and the soon-to-be Juventus duo of Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain, meanwhile the Inter Milan skipper found the back of the net a further 22 times in the 2014/2015 season in what was a highly disappointing campaign for the Nerazzurri.
The goals haven’t come as regularly as Lacazette’s, perhaps due to the contrast in scenario between both clubs, but he has just about surpassed Giroud’s record over the last two seasons with 43 goals in all competitions, playing eight times less than the towering Frenchman.
Beyond goal-scoring, from a shot accuracy of 50% to a total of 32 chances created over the past season, Icardi is, generally, statistically inferior to both Lacazette and Giroud. In fact, the Argentine fades in comparison to other Serie A strikers in just about every pertinent statistic that doesn’t involve scoring.
At his age, those figures have all the time improve year-on-year, however, especially at a more stable club that can play to the poacher’s strengths. With sound technical ability, reasonable pace and an augmented eye for goal, Icardi’s an option that can’t be ignored.
3 – Carlos Bacca
Club: A.C. Milan
Nation: Colombia
Age: 29
Nation: Colombia
Age: 29
Perhaps the solution to Arsenal’s striker woes lies in Milan after all, not with Inter, but with their bitter rivals A.C. Milan instead. After growing uncertainty surrounding the Rossoneri’s financial health, a consequence of Silvio Berlusconi’s failure to sell the club, Carlos Bacca has found himself on the market in order to fund other signings requested by new boss Vincenzo Montella.
The Colombian striker remains wanted at the San Siro, but it is due to interest elsewhere that Bacca may serve as the sacrificial lamb for the Italian outfit. The likes of West Ham United and Paris Saint-Germain have all reportedly lined up to take the striker off Milan’s hands, but, somewhat surprisingly, Arsenal are nowhere to be seen in relation to the move.
But even then, despite requiring the club to adhere to the trends of an inflated market, it wouldn’t surprise me if Bacca soon found himself in Arsenal’s path.
Numerous times Wenger has pointed towards working on signing new players in secret, avoiding name-calling. With that in mind, knowing the schemer that Wenger is and the hardball currently being played in Lyon and from Icardi’s camp, you wouldn’t bet against ‘Le Professeur’ picking out a name like Bacca’s out of the blue. Moves for Lacazette and Icardi seem too obvious in that regard.
In Bacca, as mentioned previously, Arsenal get a striker who finished third in Serie A’s list of top goal scorers, despite Milan staggering to a 7th place finish in 2016. Of the aforementioned strikers in direct relation to Arsenal, only Lacazette (43) has managed to surpass Bacca’s number of 41 chances created throughout the season.
Bacca also goes on to blitz others with his 63% of shot accuracy, 30.5% of which ended up in the back of the net, but Icardi does pip the Colombian when it comes to converting those shots into goals with a mere difference of 0.03%. The 29-year-old also equals Icardi’s 73% of average passing accuracy, with Lacazette proving to be the most engaging of the three candidates.
But perhaps the most notable feature in Bacca’s time as a striker in European football has been his ability to score goals in his debut season, a detail that should make him interesting enough for Arsenal to at least consider him as a quick-fix option.
His influence in Belgium was initially laboured, a consequence of arriving mid-season in 2011/2012, but the Colombian never looked back once he had a full season to impress. 28 goals in 44 appearances for Club Brugge in the 2012/2013 season was enough to earn him a £6 million move to La Liga club Sevilla.
Bacca’s success at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium was instant, hitting 21 goals and 12 assists in 52 appearances before a further 28 goals and 10 assists the following season contributed massively towards Sevilla’s back-to-back Europa League glory.
Despite seeing his numbers decline to just 20 goals since his £25 million move to Milan last summer, playing in a far more offensively reserved league and for an underachieving team, Bacca’s statistics remain respectable and there to be had should a club choose to pay his £25 miliion-£30 million price tag.
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