Arsenal’s transfer conundrum – Why Arteta may not even want another striker

Arsenal’s transfer conundrum by Peter Doherty

The era of the striker being the focal point of the team and the main thoroughfare for goals has been diminishing in the premiership over the last decade.

A target man was long held to be a vital cog in any given successful team and his positioning at the apex of the team formation was considered a foregone formality. Every team had one of varying qualities but his role as a goalscorer was accepted.

In the Premier League today there are still notable goalscorers who inhabit that space and whose primary task is to put the ball in the net, or enable a team mate to do so with knock downs or touches around the box. But from once being omnipresent they are now a rare breed.

Haaland is of course the prime example, followed by Mitrovic and Toney. Kane could be argued to be a member of that club but he often plays a deeper role as playmaker, so he’s not as obvious a candidate.

But looking past these notable exceptions the top twenty scorers in the Premier League don’t fulfill this role. Last season’s top scorers were Salah, a winger, and Son, a midfielder.

Ironically the most successful striker today plays under one of the managers that help diminish the strikers role, in Pep Guardiola.

He frequently preferred the false nine and his teams offered threats from all over the field. Looking at the stats it would appear that Halaand’s inclusion undermines the effectiveness of the other outfield players as the number of goalscorers has reduced. Only Foden features with seven, and this includes a hat-trick and a brace, so not prolific.

Looking at the inclusion of Arsenal players in the goal scorers list there is Odegaard, Martinelli, Saka and Jesus. One of whom who could be loosely described as a striker, and who prominently features everywhere in the field of play, that being Jesus.

So the clamour of our fan base to buy a conventional striker and questioning the wisdom of purchasing a player who plays an attacking role but not centrally, like Mudryk or Felix, is largely overlooking the preferred approach under Arteta.

Offer threats from multiple positions and spread the responsibility of goal scoring, thereby making it increasingly difficult to nullify the danger. This is a system that Guardiola played to such devastating effect whilst Arteta worked with him, and it may not be a coincidence that he has veered from that in Arteta’s absence.

Ultimately the point is that Arteta seeks fluidity in attack, particularly centrally. He wants his number nine to be available for the ball all over the pitch, making them impossible to track, and if a defender follows then their team structure is undermined.

This is something that Nketiah has improved in immensely over the last three games. Whilst retaining his predatory instincts he also appears to good effect in deeper positions, both in a defensive  and attacking role. He deserves the chance to continue to grow in the fluid number nine role, as he has proven a capacity to grow.

There is also the matter of Arsenal having another striker currently vying with Mbappe in Ligue Un in Balogun. Despite playing for a considerably weaker team, he is only bettered by Mbappe and Neymar in the goalscoring charts.

So next season Arsenal will have Jesus, Nketiah and Balogun fighting for the central role, an abundance of riches.

And this is why pursuing a tactically flexible  attacking midfielder or winger is priority in this window.

What do you Gooners think?