Gunners four-man striker shortlist for revealed
Arsenal is all but set to press the reset button on their forward line in the near future after the current 2021-22 Premier League season has given boss Mikel Arteta and club technical director Edu Gaspar the direction they require when it comes to further player recruitment.
With former club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all but completely ostracized from the first-team set up while Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah are steaming towards the exit doors on free deals in the summer, Arsenal is in desperate need of securing a new long-term number 9 and possibly as soon as January.
According to ESPN Aubameyang’s future at Arsenal has been thrown into doubt over disciplinary issues and Arteta is willing to listen to offers for him in January. One of the players being considered to replace him is Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins #Auba #Transfers pic.twitter.com/wjPhETU2dY
— The Transfer Exchange Show (@TheTransferEx) December 31, 2021
As per ESPN writer and analyst Julien Laurens, Arsenal is considering four names to fill the incoming void in the middle of the front four, including Aston Villa front-man Ollie Watkins. Watkins has been reborn under Steven Gerrard this season after struggling in 2021-22 before Dean Smith’s departure and certainly turned a few heads last season when he hit 14-goals.
Everton’s English striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Everton at The London Stadium, in east London on May 9, 2021. (Photo by JUSTIN SETTERFIELD/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Watkins is not the only Premier League center-forward on the shortlist, with the expected inclusion of Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin hardly coming as a shock after Arsenal has long been linked with serious interest in the England international. With the Toffees previously linked to potential interest in Cagliari’s Giovanni Simeone, the Goodison Park outfit could already be considering DCL’s replacement in their own right.
Continental duo also high in demand at Arsenal
Homegrown options Ollie Watkins and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are not the only strikers that Arteta and Edu have heart-shaped eyes for in recent weeks, with Fiorentina’s Serbian starlet Dušan Vlahović and Real Sociedad’s Swedish wonderkid Alexander Isak also featuring on the four-man shortlist.
If Barcelona fail to sign Haaland, the club will go all out for Vlahovic.
— @mundodeportivo pic.twitter.com/qYY9WbaWMZ
— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) December 31, 2021
Vlahović has taken Serie A by storm from his base in Firenze across the last two seasons and currently sits joint-second in goals across Europe’s top five leagues with Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrick Schick with 16-goals, three behind Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski. Competition for Vlahovic will unquestionably be high, however, with clubs the likes of Manchester City, Barcelona, and Tottenham also circling around the former FK Partizan academy graduate.
As for Isak, his searing form last term for Real Sociedad has cooled off in 2021-22 – at least in the goal department – but still being just 22-years-old, the Swedish international offers a very intriguing profile; a blend of physicality that comes with bags of technical quality and a keen eye for goal that was fully on display at the Anoeta Stadium last season.
Whichever route Arsenal intends to take, if any of these four options are secured for next season, the Gunners are in good hands up front.
