OPINION: Arsenal are in need of investment in the striking department with Alexandre Lacazette set to depart but technical director Edu should avoid £52.4m revival project.
The position of striker in the Arsenal team is still very much an area of uncertainty for the Gunners with several players in the role seeing their contracts expire in the upcoming summer window.
Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah will leave on free deals at the end of the season and with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang having just the sole year left from that point too, Arsenal recruitment duo Mikel Arteta and Edu will need to act in the transfer market.
Several options have been linked already with the Gunners, however, Serbian striker Luka Jovic arose as a possible option due to his lack of playing time with Real Madrid.
Jovic made the £52.4 million move to Los Blancos after impressing with Frankfurt in the Bundesliga. He alongside now-former West Ham United striker Sebastian Haller formed a formidable partnership.
However, when used in the loan striker role in Madrid, he soon found it difficult, and his confidence fell. He began missing big chances and failing to take the opportunities given to him.
The weight of the fee, the size of the club and his young age all seemingly combined to overburden the 23-year-old.
Arsenal’s need for a striker in the summer should not look towards Jovic. He may be talented and has proven that in the Bundesliga at a very young age. However, the Gunners need more guarantees for such a crucial position of investment.
With both Lacazette and Aubameyang unlikely to be at Arsenal by the end of the 2022/23 season, whoever the club moves for will likely be carrying the starting role’s weight for the foreseeable future.
The idea of putting this much faith in what would be a restoration project in Jovic is too far. The only way it would work is if a deal for Jovic was designed to fulfil the Lacazette role.
Then, in the summer of 2023 when Aubameyang’s deal expires, move for the marquee striker in the following transfer window.
However, if Arsenal are able to return to Europe in this campaign, Mikel Arteta and Edu would be smart to pursue a move for the striker which guarantees the progression they are after.
If Edu does indeed want to blend a team of young stars with world-class quality, the striker position in Arteta’s team must come in the form of the latter to ensure as high a goal output as possible.
