Arsenal received devastating news today when it was announced that forward Danny Welbeck would miss the next nine months after having surgery to his knee.

Obviously this is terrible news for Danny and I hope that he has a speedy recovery and comes back fitter, stronger and better.

But the injury might force Arsenal’s hand and persuade Arsene Wenger to bring in a striker that will be capable to fire the Gunners to Premier League glory next season.

This season has seen Oliver Giroud go through is all too often dry spells. Once again Theo Walcott has failed to hold down a starting role as his teams main striker. Joel Campbell has improved but he works better on the wing. Chilean Alexis Sanchez is a top performer but like Campbell he works best when he starts off out wide. Welbeck had already missed most of the season due to another injury and had only recently returned to the squad, so his impact was pretty minimal.

Out of all the current top four sides Arsenal have scored the least amount of goals with only one game remaining.

So you can understand why Arsenal fans have been dreaming of signing a big money striker that has a proven track record in scoring a barrel load of goals.

In doing that the board and Wenger will have to go into the club’s bank vaults and sign a very large cheque.

For me, there are three main attackers out there that could be willing to join the Gunners this summer.

Those star men are Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain, Borussia Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Lyon’s Alexandre Lacazette.

I really think Arsene has to go after all three and start negotiations now!

Argentine hitman Higuain supposedly turned down Arsenal’s advances before deciding to join Napoli in 2013.

SInce then he has bagged sixty-eight goals in one hundred and five Serie A appearances. He’s completely outscoring everyone else in Italy this term with his thirty-three strikes.

In Naples Higuain plays in the middle of a front three. At Arsenal he’d play in the centre forwards position in a 4-2-3-1 formation and would probably thrive in that role.

A major plus for Arsenal is that they have Mesut Ozil in their ranks. The German maestro and Higuain played together at Real Madrid and Gonzalo was fully of praise for his former teammate:

“I had the pleasure to play with Mesut and he is one of the best players in the world,” 

“As a striker he is a dream to play with because you know he is going to create you chances.”

The free-scoring forward has recently been linked with a £42m move to Chelsea but surely it would be worth Wenger’s time to step in and try and hijack that deal. Arsenal will have the carrot of Champions League football to dangle in front of Higuain. But they’ll also have to show that they can compete with Chelsea when it comes to wages.

Over in Germany, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has continually improved at Dortmund.

The Gabon international certainly carries the pace and composure that would terrify defences in England.

He’s bagged a highly impressive thirty-nine goals in all competitions during this campaign including three against Spurs and one over Liverpool.

The fee to bring the Speed merchant to London could be the biggest stumbling block with Borussia Dortmund holding out for around £70m.

Surely it’s worth putting in a bid and try some old fashioned haggling.

Maybe the easiest target will be Lacazette.

The French forward has hinted that it could be the right time to depart Ligue 1 and seek a new adventure.

After a poor start to the season Alexandre has once again found his scoring form with only PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring more in 2016.

Lacazette is another striker who likes to play up top and in the middle. Another frontman who can play off the shoulder of the last defender and use his pace to great effect.

Obviously he plays in a league that Wenger knows well and constantly observes but that may unnerve a few Gunners after a few flops that came in from Ligue 1.

Has been linked with a €30m move to West Ham, so Arsenal should move quickly if they are interested.

Now all three of these strikers are proven scorers in their own leagues, they are internationals and have a history of scoring in Europe.

They age between 24 and 28 years old, so should have their peaks lying in front of them.

Now let me clarify what I mean about Arsenal going for all three hitmen. Obviously I don’t think they’ll sign all three or should sign all three.

No what I mean is that they have to be smart in this transfer window and make sure they get a top class striker. They cannot afford to once again have all their eggs in one basket and go into another campaign without a natural predator in front of goal.

So bid for all three, see where the water lies, who is wants to joining the Premier League giants and what team is willing to do business.

If Arsene Wenger wants to get his home fans back onside then he needs to act fast this summer and go big!

Posted on May 11th, 2016 by scott
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