Although many Arsenal fans are no longer calling for Arsene Wenger to sign another striker in the summer, largely due to the excellent form of Olivier Giroud since the France international returned from injury, there are many, including the former Gunner Thierry Henry, who want the manager to bring in more firepower.
And of course there are plenty of Arsenal transfer rumours linking the boss with all sorts of strikers in all shapes and sizes, so I am quite surprised that there have not been any linking us with Christian Benteke recently. There lots last summer and the previous one after he took the Premier League by storm with his power and finishing.
The Mirror are now reporting that Aston Villa have admitted that they may not be able to hold on to their star striker this summer as he does not look like he will be signing a new deal with our FA cup final opponents. But the paper only has Liverpool as the club likely to pay the price of around £30 million.
Tim Sherwood said, “If a player doesn’t want to play for the club any more and the club he wants to go to meets the valuation, it’s best to let them go.
“It will be just a market value – what’s out there.
“I don’t want to talk about selling Christian when I’ve got no intention of doing that. So it would have to be a lot of money for someone to get him off us.
“We are looking for players ourselves, so we know how much other clubs are looking at [as fees] for their players. He’ll be too expensive for a great deal of people in the Premier League. We want to keep our best players – and he’s certainly one of those.”
Should the Gunners not be looking at this proven Premier League player, especially as Benteke has previously spoken about his love for Arsenal and desire to play for us one day? If we were to challenge Liverpool for him, not only would we have another great option up front but just as with the Alexis Sanchez transfer, we would deny the scousers their target and prove the pulling power of Arsenal.
So Gooners, should Wenger go for Benteke?
Go for someone better than Benteke.Maybe Depay,Dybala or if possible Cavani.
No.
Agreed – Benteke does not seem better than Giroud, and even if he is slightly better at times – the price is not worth it.
Unless we can find a real WC striker – i dont see the reason for going for one. Higuain might be a good option, as he is great off the ball and a better finisher than anyone we have at the moment.
Let’s fight Manu for Hummels to solidify our D, Let’s get Schneiderlin to solidify our Mid, and Higuain will be the icing on the cake.
With Flamini, Rosicky, Arteta and Diaby no longer in the books we should have 200-250K extra in our wage bill, which should cover 2/3 of the wages of the above 3 players.
Ospina as no1 and Sczesny as no2 goalies is not a bad place to be either. Yes they are not as good as De Gea, or lloris, or Courtouis but we have no chance of signing those, and probabaly shouldn be paying Cech a ridiculous salary that PSG would be happy to pay in his twilight years.
The only thing good about Benteke is his age. The last game I watched he was offsides all game, can’t do anything with the ball at his feet. Giroud is way better. W e need a better striker too add to Girouds goals
What a stupid assessment. He plays for Villa, do you not understand how difficult that is as their lone striker? You bang on about being offside, but if the playmaker doesn’t release the ball at the right time the ST will always be given offside.
Benteke turned 24 in December, so he’s only a year older than our ‘future’ Jack,
he’s a goalscorer, quick, strong, technical, can bully any defence single-handedly (see Chelsea game), and a million miles better than Giroud was at 24. I would love Higuain at the club, I’m a huge fan of his….but to say the only good thing about Benteke is his age is just ignorance. He’d also be a terrific signing.
Ok. I’m surprised your not rich and famous and on TV if you can predict how well players will be on other teams. Also, Aston Villa are not a bad team. Your right, he is athletic and strong, and a good finisher. He is not Demba Ba on Newcastle or Lukaku for Everton last year. I’m trying to think of great strikers on mediocre teams, and he seems as mediocre as the rest of the team. Maybe if he leaves he will be better? I just haven’t seen the star in him that you see?
That made sense…you mean I should be alongside the real football thinkers like Merson, Carragher, Souness, Owen, Hargreaves…gimme a break, as if being on TV is somehow validation of your credentials or football acumen.
Guess you missed Bentekes maiden campaign before his serious injury? Arguably the best striker in the league his first season. Then Lambert went village idiot and Villa were absolutely dire until they sacked him and appointed Sherwood…..then guess what? Benteke is back being a beast again.
I’m not bothered if you don’t fancy him, but to say his only good quality is his age is just daft and shows you don’t watch football outside the Arsenal bubble.
PooL can have benteke……. We should aim for a certain Lacazette pLaying for Lyon
benteke is a hit and miss. lacazette any day.
You clearly haven’t watched Villa more than once. Simple bandwagon stuff to tout the geezer in form this year…..did you want Draxler a season or so back? Remy too? You’re one of those guys for sure.
@Champagne Charlie, never been one of those guys, which is why I’m not on here every day talking about some bullshit rumours. Since you’re asking, I still want Draxler, perfect for our style, and I know he can become an amazing player working with Wenger. I’ve been watching Lacazette for two years now. Every month we hear about ‘the next Viera’ or ‘the next Henry’, and if you ever want to see someone who plays like Henry in Arsenal colours again, this is your man. You seem to be the one who gets caught up in the form of a player as you’re claiming we should buy a player for 30m just because he had a run of 10 good games after 1 and a half season of mediocrity. Benteke has poor link-up play, and you can always tell the quality of a striker by how well they can time their runs. You can’t just blame it all on the other Villa players. Benteke, like Bony, Lambert, Austin and others is a small team striker who feeds of the weak service and is not suited to a big club.
Brilliant appraisal….based entirely on your say so. Benetke isn’t suited to a big club? How about see him play for one before you cast such a condemnation.
Interesting how I’M someone who jumps on the bandwagon, according to you, because I’m simply saying Benteke (who you’ve called average for 1.5 seasons) is potentially a superb player in a better team. That’s getting caught up in form is it? If you say so.
That’s it, I said let’s go get Benteke for 30 million. Please quote where I said that should be the number one goal.
I never said anything about him or any other forward being our number one goal. We all know where we need to make additions first and it is not upfront.
You expect Arsenal to pay 30m for a player just because you think they can thrive at a big club. You think that he’ll be better just because he came here. He is average with the ball at his feet and that is a fact that you still haven’t argued on. No matter what you do there are somethings you will never change like, Ronaldo will never become a work-horse, Messi will never become a powerhouse and Benteke will never be good with the ball at his feet.
Who made you judge and what makes your opinion more valid than anyone else’s here?
I think he’ll be average, you think he’ll do great. We’ve obviously seen different things in him. We don’t make the decisions around here so lets just wait and see what wenger does
he is a classy player but am sorry he is not worth 30 mil and in addition he is no better than Giroud..we need someone better than Giroud…what did i hear you say? :::/*” Although many Arsenal fans are no
longer calling for Arsene Wenger to sign
another striker in the summer…*/”
what do you mean?for heavens sake very football fan leave alone arsenal fans only knows that we need a sticker to rotate and improve Giroud.thats clear even when sleepy!!
did anyone else see patrick vieiera’s interview talking about being snubbed by us and wenger for a coaching role now that is probably the silliest things we as a club have done.
He should have been the first name back through the door in a coaching capacity at the club he is an inspirational figure in the club, and the youngsters would have looked up to him.
He should have either been made under 21 manager (he would be much better than steve gatting who seems to lose most games these days)or midfield coach to the first team.
i just hope one day when henry takes over that he brings in vieiera in with him in his coaching staff somewhere along side bergkamp that would rock the league. #dreamticketfortheleague
Who cares. We can’t hire every former player as a coach.
He is Viera dude not any former player!!! There should always be a place for the likes of Viera and Henry and Bergkamp in our staff. Dont compare these guys to Hleb and Silvestre and the like, these are legends and they deserve a chance to prove themselves as a coach. Start them with the youth and see how they progress.
Except he retired AT City. I know he announced his retirement and we could have stepped in but it wasn’t even the end of the season when he accepted the City role. Seems to me he feels like he was snubbed but I think Wenger would have gladly given him a position if he was made aware of his interest or if he was a free agent. We take on huge numbers of ex staff – I think considering he was Wenger’s PL winning captain that he’d be first on a list to be taken back.
NO WAY!!! If we purchase striker it must be top top top. Only after purchases to CECH and Shcneiderlin!!!
No thank you.
He is still young and will obviously improve, but there are better and cheaper players his age available and I’m sure Wenger has identified them.
Only time I think we need another goal scorer is is either OG, Welbeck, Sanchez or Theo leaves.
Oh and honestly I would like to see Akpom given a chance, hoping we go far in community shield to see a bit of him.
Because Welbeck has been banging in the goals? Because Theo will even be here next year after being snubbed since his injury? Because Alexis can play as a ST?
Classic Fifa logic with some of you it’s ridiculous. The ONLY alternative to Giroud at ST is Welbz, and right now that ain’t a great alternative.
I can’t resist myself, I gotta troll the troll.
Is Theo a real alternative to Giroud as a CF other than FIFA 15?
I do wonder what exactly is happening with Theo, he did come on for Giroud last time he came on and he alternated between the right AM and CF with Welbeck. He wasn’t given long enough against Chelsea to prove if he could of done the job but as someone who watched it, I thought we needed him sooner.
My 2 main concerns about Theo is his fitness and his desire to win the ball back, when fit and sharp Theo is probably our best finnisher and his last full season fit he did perform exeptionally well at puting the ball in the net. He is smart off the ball as well dispite being tagged with not having a footballing brain pfft!
Theo isn’t 1st choice CF, Giroud fights to win the ball back and I believe Theo needs to learn that but he does offer a great ‘Plan B’ during a game, if Giroud can’t do the job or we want to hold a lead then play deeper with faster strikers for counter attacking football instead of so much possession bassed.
As mentioned above, Theo came on for Giroud and Terry had a bit more difficulty dealing with the runs but lucky for them we made the change too late, I think Terry knew this at the end and contributed towards his celebration.
In FIFA you just controle the players differently, in real life you need to think of the players mentality and capabilities along with preferences etc, you are the 1 who should stop talking FIFA tactics!
I have Fifa tactics for stating that our only alternative ST is Welbz and he doesn’t score enough? You’re a bag of sense aren’t you.
I genuinely don’t know what point you attempted to make in that random mess.
Higuan…we all knw s.americans r the best finishers!
Very good point! Higuain is a great option. Experienced, talented, played at highest level, proven and still young enough and different from Giroud.
I like the idea of player choosing us over them but i wouldnt be too excited on Benteke, would have preferred the Ivorian before manc bought him but would altogether prefer looking outside prem for our next striker.
Agree with Kotte as i would be greatly excited on Higuain signing.
I reckon liv will try for Higuain Lacazette Jackson, id put money on liv bidding thirty odd mill for each and any of them in the hope they get one… prem players they bought this season not being too hot and all that. Also Suarez was scoring in weaker league similar to how Lacazette and especially Jackson have.
Except Lacazette… reckon theyll bid 25m. 30 odd mill Higuain and 25 to 30 odd mill JM
dont get caught up on higuain, great finisher but average linkup play, wont suit our style.
Lacazette is a goal machine And brilliant striker. Just look at his stats and YouTube. I rate him higher than Dybala and Benteke
What Wenger need now is better supporting striker like pogba
Forget Higuain, his link up play is not half as good as Girouds and he lacks pace or is of similar pace to Giroud!! Only difference is Higuain tends to hang around the box for most of the game hence why he has scored a lot of goals. In the Prem league, defences are much tighter and chances are far less.
Arsenal just need 3 additions of Kondogbia (CDM) Konoplyanka (natural LW) and Lacazette (versatile striker).
However they will need to get rid of Flamini, Diaby, Arteta, Podolski, Campbell, Miyachi, Wellington Silva and Sanogo to free up the wage bill/deadwood.
Hahahahahaahhaha that is THE most asinine thing I’ve read about Higuain. So he just “hangs around the box most of the game”?? Oh lord…
Stay of the Champagne Charlie…it’s getting to you!! Try watching a full game with him playing and then we can debate how he scores his goals. I dont play Fifa or Championship Manager so my opinion is only based on watching live games…ciao
Stay off the champagne? You’re a clever one…
If your opinion is derived from watching games then I suggest you pay much better attention because to say your assessment of Higuain is wrong would be the biggest understatement imaginable. Don’t tell me to try watching a full game with him either pal, I guarantee I’ve clocked hundreds more games of football than you ever will.
Haha, you could only wish to have watched more games than me, anyways im not getting into a debate with a wannabe fan who has no logic!! Watch the games in a little more detail and then maybe I will entertain debating with you, otherwise stick to armchair fans…ciao
There has been a lot of talk about Lacazette recently, must confess I’m not educated enough about Ligue 1 to comment. However I’ve just watched a 10 minute clip on Youtube and golly this guy looks the real deal! Only 23 as well 🙂
He appears to have Ox’s strength and desire to dribble, Walcotts pace and the willingness to shoot from range with great technique thrown in.
Can just imagine him making pacey runs for Ozil / Cazorla to find and Sanchez and him buzzing around like flies 🙂
I hope that we snag him and let Poldi, Sanogo and probably campbell go.
Next season: Giroud, Lacazette, Akpom with back ups of Sanchez/Walcott, (if still with us and back to form).
Must admit though he’d not have the freedom shown in the clips in the Premier League but he does look like a machine!
Lol @ Ronny with Sanchez and Walcott back up to Akpom. You ‘self proclaimed fans’ amaze me with your utter bullsh*t!!
Akpom is very raw and at least 3 seasons away if he ever makes it!!
We should have kept Afobe…
Re the last, I forgot Welbeck! Sorry Danny!
@NY_Gunner
Totally agree!
@Ronny331
For real. Dude is a beast and better than any of our current forwards, with the exception of Sanchez…
Lol @ the Afobe comments!!
If he was that good a premier league team would have snapped him up!!
20 premier league teams cant have all got it wrong!
@goonerboro
Yet he’s scored more goals than any of the strikers in all 20 of those EPL teams.
23 league goals in 40 Championship and League 1 games is very good. But by this logic we should also be considering Deeney, Murphy, Ighalo, Rhodes, Wilson, Gestede, Garner, Henderson, Doyle, Garner etc etc and many others who have comparable numbers. I think our emotional attachment to Benik naturally skews our opinions. Anyhow, another poster said we have a buy-back option – but don’t know whether that is true or not.
@jonestown1 finally someone with sense has realised you cannot compare League 1 games with Premier League games!!
If he was that good he would have been playing for Arsenal or even been a squad player, he has never been that hence why he has been shipped out!
Sometimes fans need to see sense and stop dreaming about players being better than what they actually are!!
@jonestown1
Now herein lies the problem with the EPL. All of the above named players have been very prolific, regardless of the leagues they’ve played in. Yet we’re ready to go outside the country and pay outrageous sums for players who 9 times out of 10 do not cut it in English football. The Championship and League 1 are just as demanding, if not more so than the French, Belgium,Dutch, German and even Spanish top leagues.
My attachment to Afobe is more than emotional. He has proven himself and excelled at what he does no many different levels. And he came from us…
Yeah, he’s had a few injuries that hampered his playing time. But has fought through them and came out on top.
And yeah. AW was foolish to let him go, yet kept the likes of Sanogo and even brought in Welbeck, who I think neither posses the skills of Afobe.
Remember. that if not for injury, Le Coq was about to be sold also…
@goonerbro.. self proclaimed fans, wtf I’ve been a fan for over 30 years and I have an opinion that happens to be different from yours! And who are you and what credentials do you have to qualify as top fan? Akpom out and out striker, sanchez more of a winger and walcott couldn’t finish his dinner and doesn’t know where to stand on the pitch at the moment, that was my point. Some people!
You stated Sanchez as back up, back up to whom…yep thats right Akpom!!
Dont know what you been watching for past 30 years but your ideas are full of sh*t!!
Alexis could be 1st choice Left AM and due to that we can’t have him 1st choice CF…. Obviously ^.^
Having Alexis behind Akpom means that he is still a choice for CF while not needing to drag him out of the Left AM role which he has dominated, I can’t imagin anyone else starting there if Alexis is fit ^.^
Alexis calls Akpom titi by reports and they seemed to work well on the pitch together so why not let Akpom be 3rd choice?
I agree with Ronny in that regardes how-ever I do think Ronny needs to re-evaluate Theo, Theos main downfalls are his lack of desire to win the ball back and fitness but not his finishing.
Theos shot accuracy has been 71% this season so far while Girouds has been 53%… Saying Theo can’t finishhis dinner is way off the mark but thats prob down to too much belief in the media and doesn’t watch enough games himself.
Akpom is at least 2 years away from making it on the subs bench!! Arsenal should loan him out to a tough Championship team like we did for Coq and then evaluate his development after that!!
Ps. Its totally absurd to suggest that Wenger would replace an in form Giroud and Sanchez with u proven players like Akpom!