Arsenal’s hopes for the 2023–24 league title didn’t quite go according to plan. Our boys put in a great effort, but unfortunately fell short in the league. That’s ancient history, and now we must look forward to what lies ahead and how we can improve further.
The summer transfer window opens soon, and as we approach it, it’s interesting to see everyone’s thoughts on how Arsenal should handle their transfers. There are plenty of valid ideas out there. Ian Wright’s transfer suggestions are equally valid. The Arsenal legend believes the club may not need a top striker in the upcoming summer transfer window.
However, he does have three potential deals in mind that he believes could elevate the team to the next level. Many people would find it interesting, but Wright believes that if Arteta can secure a backup for William Saliba and Bukayo Saka, as well as sign a top midfielder, he may finally have the championship-winning team he desires.
“Everyone’s talked about [Arsenal’s need to sign] a centre forward, but as difficult as it’s been, we can deal with the hit of not having that out-and-out centre forward,” Wright said on the Stick to Football podcast.
“I think we need cover for Bukayo Saka, we need cover for William Saliba, and another midfielder probably. You look at what Manchester City are capable of doing in respect of bringing players in. You have to have somebody to come in who can challenge William Saliba for his position, because we need to strengthen the whole squad – look at our bench.”
Wright’s claims seem reasonable. Based on what he’s saying, it seems like he wants Arsenal to have a stronger bench with better-quality substitutes. It also appears that he is a big fan of Kai Havertz as a striker and may believe he should continue playing as Arsenal’s center forward, which is why he isn’t keen on Arsenal recruiting a No. 9.
What do you think of Wright’s claim? And what’s your vision for a perfect Arsenal summer transfer window?
Darren N
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
Both Carragher, Neville and Wright all rate Kai massively and i think he’s been world class since the start of the year. Yes there are better finishers out there but do they offer the same link up as the big German, do they offer the same pressing and duels won and that’s a no. Players like Isak and Watkins have better stats in terms of goals scored but if you look at the rest of the squads stats they are nowhere near meaning they spearhead there clubs attack. We don’t play that game and have multiple players getting a good amount of goals. Apparently we could get both Eze and Olise for around 130 million combined. That alone would help us massively as between them both they can play Saka’s position, Trossards and Odegards. Then we can add a proper cdm and trossard/jesus can cover Kai
Morning, Kai can do something forward except that he has got week shots both out and inside the box. On the other side he creates productive passes and assists. Jesus would be the best, but he is so friendly to the ground even if he is slightly touched by the opponent hence wasting chances of scoring goals and winning every game. I would be very happy to see Olise backup Bukayo, Eze backup Odigard, Isak or Watkins for finding nets and a backup of Ben Wight as well as Saliba. Arteta should include G. Jesus in the outgoing list otherwise otherwise we shall take long to raise a 🏆
the second article today where pundits are not prioritising a striker – although I value Ian Wright opinion ten times over Carragher
nonetheless there are many other learned pundits/experts out there saying the same – not that another Centre Forward (c.f. out-and-out Striker) option wouldn’t be useful, it is just that there are other higher priority areas for investment in the squad on a limited budget
and i think they are right, the reason is while some fans (and JA inparticular) point to some games in the first half of the season where we struggled to break some teams down, what we have seen in the second half of the season is Arteta has solved for that with a settled consistent XI that 2024 PL form is 16 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss – scoring 54 goals in the process, an average 3 goals a game, highest in the league
so taking that forward to next season doesn’t feel like striker is our biggest area of concern
Do you remember arsenal FA cup tie with Liverpool? Havertz was awful. I think signing an out-and-out striker will help us I winning some games next season.
To take Arsenal to the next level, we need a heavy weight striker with Technical qualities that can hold the ball up, break through a low block wall, interchange with short passes and clinical enough to score at least 20 goals a season.
Not as easy as it sounds, taking in all the above attributes
required.
Havertz doesn’t really perform against top 6 sides, so we need that cutting edge.
Elise is a must for Saka or Trosards back up as he can play anywhere across the attacking side of the pitch as he is skillful with either foot and probably on par with Saka’s skill level.
Timber is back in defence, so the only other position is another defensive midfielder, if Rice is to venture more forward in certain games.
Assisted the winner against Man city, scored the winner against spurs and got an assist, assisted the winner against Manchester united and scored two against Chelsea?
yeah, no good against big 6
@daveg – the striker you describe exists only in your dreams, not even fantasy football, e.g. Haarland is the undisputed best striker in the PL, if not the world, and has only one of those qualities
i don’t rate Carragher generally, but his article on this site earlier today he said something interesting “there’s not many strikers in the world, everybody in the premier League beside Man City are not happy with their striker really”
spending £100m on a striker does not guarantee even goals, let alone titles
and the most consistent high scoring striker in PL of the last 10 years won precisely zero…and took that with him to Bayern
Bless you!
…and he did all that while playing as a CF or false 9!
I don’t think the club needs a top top striker to replace Havertz, but instead a backup option.
We don’t have a player that can step in a be a reliable striker.
Jesus is awful as a striker, he never has been one and never will be. Any place he has in the team is a backup winger or nothing at all.
Trossard can cover for a couple games, but can’t carry the load over a long stretch. He has been better on the LW and competition for Martinelli.
Nketiah was never a serious option to step up; he has failed over 5 years to cement his place even as a backup.
We do need another striker, but not necessarily a replacement, but certainly need someone who can rotate with Havertz and play if he gets injured.
agreed
the blockbuster £100m names though are not it, in that too expensive and unlikely to be happy on the bench
hence the younger developing Sesko type who can play across the front three and offer cover on the wings too, especially Saka
@Durand, agreed completely. We dont need a shiny striker worth 100 m but we do need someone who can cover for Havertz, someone younger and talented.
We may not need a top striker. Nketiah still remains our best striker but Arteta deliberately refused to study the pattern that suits him. He still remains the only player to score hat trick in the league with Arteta and doubles as England U21 record goal scorer. You don’t achieve such by coincidence. Anytime Martinelli starts on the left of attack; Smith Rowe as our attacking midfielder and Zinchenko providing skills from left full back, Nketiah will instantly become a killer upfront, as against Sheffield United. All we need to do is to start one of our defensive midfielders – Rice or Partey; start one of Havertz or Odegaard in the middle and Saka at wide position. Then Magalhaes, Saliba and White complete the outfield players. Arteta’s inability to study this formation that favours Nketiah single handedly cost us the league : against Aston Villa Zinchenko started from his normal left full back; Martinelli came in the 67th minutes for Trossard and in the 79th minutes when it was still nil nil Smith Rowe came in. At this point Arteta made a mistake of removing Gabriel Jesus for Jorginho so that Havertz move into front line. Had it been Nketiah directly replaced Gabriel Jesus, Arsenal would have won the league because that would have been the exact formation Nketiah thrives in.. Havertz only plays as a top striker in average games. He is better at Central midfield than top striking positions on big games. He was very flat against Porto, Bayern and City , as a top striker.
If Arteta reinvent Nketiah’s formular, get a left full back and a central defender like Araujo of Barcelona to compliment Magalhaes and Saliba, as well as a crafty attacking midfielder like Thiago Ezequiel Almada who is the current top assist provider for Argentine U23 team, then Arsenal will go places this season
Remember we have an up coming top striker in Chido Obi Martins.
Nkietaih is awful sorry to burst you’re bubble pal. League 1 striker at best. The rest of that is absolute nonsense at best. Chido Obi Martins is like half a foot taller than everyone else on the pitch. Atleast wait till hes doing at under 21 before you judge the lad
The whole idea at Arsenal is flexibility. None of this knitting special set up a for one player. Great juniors do NOT always convert into good seniors.
Eddie’s time was up last summer.
So Arteta should reinvent his style and setup to suit 1 player? That being Nketiah?
Sorry, but the most illogical post I have read, and based solely on emotion and devoid of any logic or fact.
Nketiah has been here 5 years in the first team, and has never shown what it takes to make it in the first team at Arsenal. Over 150 appearances, more than enough chances to show something, anything in fact.
Best he goes elsewhere to try and salvage his career.
Havertz has never been a success in midfield, he is better playing as false no.9.
We can’t rely on Harvertz for goals. He is only better than Jesus and Nkhetiah. Otherwise he is very average. If we really want to win the league, we must sign that top fearsome no9 who scores regularly and keeps opposition defenders at bay, creating room for others to also score. Anything less, we might just settle with being habitual runners up. EPL is not a joke. It’s very tough. We saw it this past season.
Ah, the silly season has begun. The above article lures us by promising to tell us the names of three players Ian Wright believes should join Arsenal and then we get a lot of vague fluff. Pretty much summer window bread and butter. Personally I don’t agree with this alleged opinion that we need another centre back to cover Saliba. At this moment we already have White, Tomiyasu, Kiwior and Timber who can readily slot in. Everyone has their opinion of cause and some of the above seem slightly misinformed if we want to be polite. I’m hoping Edu, Arteta and Co will be thinking wing backs similar to Levakusen’s and also thinking outside the box by looking at young players who the club will help develop. Something like Italian football where budget constraints have forced teams to widen their search and turn pigs ears into pearls. Look at a small club like Atlanta. Where did that Goodman come from? Apparently he once played for Charlton. Didn’t that small town Italian team burst the bubble of Alonso’s and Xhaka’s invincibles?
That should be Lookman and not Goodman.
Wright is perfectly right. Specially in case of Saliba, we dont have a clear back up for either Saliba or Gabriel, so we need a top class defender. Jesus could rotate with Saka but a quality defender and a quality midfielder is very important.
Presumably Timber was bought for this purpose? He is interchangeable across the entire back line, as is Tomiyasu and White. Kiwior provides good left-sided cover as well but bringing in a first choice LB makes sense.
I have been saying it for as long as I can remember, that Jesus is the perfect cover for Saka. He has scored most of his goals from RW and his trickery defensive work rate makes him a valuable asset to the team.
We don’t need cover for Saka because we already have it with Gabriel Jesus. He’s no striker but he is an excellent winger.
If we try to acquire Marcus Thuram, he can play up front or LW and is 6’4″ so we get height, cover, and versatility.
Personally, the club should be prioritising Thuram (or similar if there is one – maybe Donyell Malen), cover or replacement for Partey and a left-sided LB (Hato).
We don’t need cover for anyone . We need to strengthen the positions where we were weakest. A decent fullback, a better more energetic player than Partey or Jorghino and someone who can terrorise the opposition in their penalty box.