When the transfer window opens for business in the summer, Arsenal fans will be screaming at Andrea Berta to sign a new striker.
The new sporting director is only just getting his feet under the table at the Emirates Stadium but the expectation is that the Gunners will spend big, regardless of how they finish their Champions League campaign.
Arsenal’s Premier League season has been a bitter disappointment and although they are a game away from a European semi-final, spending and spending right is of utmost importance.
Bringing in a shiny new centre forward must be the first priority. Alexander Isak is everybody’s dream.
The latest on Arsenal’s hunt for a new striker
Last summer, Mikel Arteta wanted a striker and they set their sights on RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko, only for the Slovenian to sign a new contract with the Bundesliga club.
The striker is a reported target again this summer but according to David Ornstein, there are two names that the recruitment team at the Emirates are more keen on; Sporting goal machine Viktor Gyokeres and Newcastle’s Isak.
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A number of the Premier League’s elite are interested in prising Isak away from the Toon, including Chelsea and Liverpool.
However, with a reported £150m asking price, a deal is likely to be incredibly difficult to complete unless the player demands an exit.
Newcastle look well set to qualify for next season’s Champions League and should they do so, getting Isak will become even harder.
So, will it by Gyokeres or Sesko instead? Time will tell.
Perhaps it could even be someone else, as Jeremie Aliadiere exclusively told Football FanCast this week.
Aliadiere is a big fan of £85m Isak alternative
FFC sat down with former Gunner Aliadiere this week to chat all things Arsenal.
The forward – who featured alongside the likes of Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp at Highbury – certainly knows a thing or two about what Arsenal need in central areas, but the player-turned-pundit has recommended a potentially surprising Isak alternative they should sign.
When asked if there was one striker he could pick for the north Londoners to go out and buy, he said:
“I’m a big fan of Darwin Nunez. I really like Nunez, I’ve always been a fan of the guy. I love his work ethic, and I still think there’s a good goalscorer in him.”
Nunez signed for Liverpool in a whopping £85m deal during the Jurgen Klopp era but has been incredibly inconsistent at Anfield, something Aliadiere acknowledged:
“He hasn’t had the opportunity and the confidence of his coach and his club to play week-in, week-out for a long period of time. A goalscorer needs to play week-in, week-out to keep scoring goals. When you are in and out of the team all the time, confidence is hard to get. It’s so important – to score more goals, you need to be on the pitch.”
Indeed, the Uruguayan attacker has only scored seven times in 42 games this term, hardly form worthy of his transfer fee.
Still, Aliadiere hasn’t been deterred by a player who missed 27 big chances in the Premier League last term, the second-worst tally in the division behind Erling Haaland.
“I’m a massive fan of him, and if he became available, I’d love to see him at Arsenal. I love that type of player. Arsenal have been crying out for a player like him, who keeps making runs in behind, who can press with energy.”
Well, there’s no denying that Nunez brings chaos to whichever front line he’s a part of but whether Arteta could find a way to extract the potential the forward has remains to be seen.
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