Arsenal legend Sol Campbell has warned that the imminent arrival of Viktor Gyökeres might not be enough for the Gunners to clinch the Premier League title.
The Sweden international is set to join Arsenal on a long-term deal, bringing an end to a long-running transfer saga. He is expected to undergo a medical this weekend before signing his contract. The 27-year-old will reportedly wear the iconic number 14 shirt, once made famous by Thierry Henry and more recently worn by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Eddie Nketiah.
His arrival is seen as a major boost to Mikel Arteta’s title ambitions, but according to Campbell, one striker alone will not guarantee success.
Campbell: Arsenal need two top-class strikers
Campbell, who won two Premier League titles and three FA Cups with Arsenal, believes an additional centre-forward is essential to maintain performance levels across the season.
“You need two strikers to trouble other teams,” he told The Sun. “You can’t always rely on just one striker as if he gets injured, the team’s performance drops. So it’s important to have a main one and have another really good backup. Sometimes they can play together, sometimes one’s on the bench and the other comes on.
“It can be good to get a slightly older one who’s been there, seen it, and done it, and can come on when you need something to happen for 20 minutes, but they’re top, top quality.
“If you pick the second striker properly, they can come on to make a difference. That’s something you have to do. So if they do get two strikers, they could definitely become champions.
“That’s the type of player who has been missing, somebody who has scored 20-25 goals just in the league. It’s okay to say, ‘he’s got all of these goals in all of these competitions,’ but that’s not good enough, that’s not going to win you the Premier League. You need goals to get you over the line and make up point differences.”
Gyökeres and Havertz partnership could prove enough
In addition to Gyökeres, Arsenal have already secured the signing of Noni Madueke and are reportedly targeting another versatile forward to bolster their frontline. With a revitalised Kai Havertz and an injured but returning Gabriel Jesus, the Gunners appear to have adequate cover in the centre-forward position heading into the new season.
While another top-class number 9 would add welcome depth, it remains to be seen whether the club’s finances would stretch that far. For now, the contrast in profiles between Havertz and Gyökeres should offer Arteta a dynamic and flexible attack.
Thoughts, Gooners?
Benjamin Kenneth
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Havertz, Jesus and Merino could replace Gyokeres if he flops or gets injured, but it’d be much better if Arsenal can sell Havertz and Jesus to sign Sesko
🤣🤣🤣🤣 not 1 Arsenal player got over 10 EPL goals last season, so no they won’t cover for a proper striker
Lets not fool ourselves
Incoming: reasons/excuses why
The CF in Arteta’s tactics doesn’t need to score 15+ goals as long as he can bring his teammates into play to score, hence the good productivity distribution in the squad
@GaiArsenal don’t need to sell Havertz, there is more to his game than scoring goals.. Actally 9 goals from 23 Matches isn’t a bad one at all. You can’t even bet of Sesko achieving that. It is Jesus that should be sold.
Havertz had 9 in 23 with 4 assists. He had 4 goals 1 assist in 8 in the champions league. Not exactly bad numbers to say atleast 5 games he played left 8. We need Eze to complete the jigsaw not another cf. unless it’s Isak and he’s happy as a lf or gyokores is!!!
Yet another negative article. You produce an endless stream of them
It’s just an article on the views of an Arsenal legend. Just because he’s a legend doesn’t mean he’s necessarily right. He has his opinion. You have yours. Also you don’t have to read the article. You have a choice 😊
And those who said we would not win title last year were no doubt negative ?
Did you admit to them that they were correct ?
So an article in which an arsenal legend gives advise on how the club can improve is negative?
What’s a positive article then? Maybe one that says that Arsenal squad is currently the best in Europe and we will definitely win every trophy under the sun. That might be what you’re expecting, but the reality is that it isn’t so my friend
It’s called click bait. Welcome to the new media.
However. I agree with Sol. I don’t always do, though i’m ethnic Brit like he is. There’s a bit of what Sol says that’s disrespectful to Havertz imo. However 2 Injuries and suspensions and we are back to Merino at 9. if we do have money left over, spend it on another 9. We’re stocked on the Eze position. So a 9 Not to compete and rotate with Yok, but younger and to get game time – someone who when Yok reaches end of 5 year contract facing 33yrs will only be 26. A proper 9 has a physicality and eye for the right gambling movement that gets the goal before seeing it put it, you just can’t coach.
Spend £35M of the remaining money on a proper young number 9
Unlike most, I have faith in Havertz leading the line for us as a starter or substitute. People seem to forget we were two points away from winning the Prem with Havertz as our centre forward. 89 points and record number of goals scored. For some reason, he’s being overlooked yet I think he’s going to play a big role if we are to win.
By the way, most PL winning teams have always had one good striker and another who is not as good which contradicts what Campbell is saying . Liverpool won it last season and didn’t have a single elite centre for instance . Havertz had better numbers than both their CFs-Jota and Nunez, despite missing months through injury.
Besides,the game has changed a lot since Campbell’s time. In the past , before I was born,teams relied heavily on centre forwards scoring the goals from what I hear. We now live in a world where some of the best scorers are wingers or attacking midfielders (Messi, Cristiano, Son, Salah etc)
Instead of just focusing on centre forwards, we should be looking at how to get Saka to score 20+ goals like Son or Salah. We need more goals for sure, but it doesn’t matter much where they come from as long as they come. Couldn’t care less if Big Gabby is our top scorer with 20 headed goals and we win the Prem 😂
Not sure how young you are but it wasn’t that long ago when great strikers were heavily relied upon by PL winning teams such as Aguero for City, RVP for Utd’s last title and Drogba for Chelsea.
Saka should be scoring more. He certainly has the potential to score 20+ goals like Son or Salah. Winger forwards like Messi, Son and Salah can do the job but having a clinical striker makes a great attack even more devastating.
Cristiano was an out and out center forward during his prime years at Real. He shed his winger style of play after Utd and his first couple of seasons at Real, effectively evolved into a traditional number 9 by not cutting in from the flanks like a winger and just stayed in the box as a center forward, which boosted his headed goals and overall tally
I wonder why Campbell has refused to outgrow that old way of thinking. Is it because that is what he grew up knowing, or is it that the old find it hard to accept anything new?
If his reasoning were to be completely correct, all the teams in the EPL, last season, which had more than one striker in their squad, should have won. Is that even possible; having more than one team winning the EPL?
He’s not talking or bothered about any other team though is he?
Think about what he’s saying and go back to last season, when we had four attacking players out at the same time.
I agree that Havertz and Merinho filled in admirably when Jesus got injured, but neither of them are natural goal scorers and, if Gyokeres gets injured, we’re back to square one.
The club have covered every position with excellent signings, but not the striker position.
There are two excellent strikers out there looking for a new club after leaving Everton and Newcastle and what Sol says makes perfect sense to me.
Ken1945,
You surely can’t be talking about Calvert Lewin can you?.
Another injury prone player, Oh hang on a minute he’d fit right in. What am I thinking. 🤦♂️🤷♂️
“ I wonder why Campbell has refused to outgrow that old way of thinking.”
He votes Conservative.
Another thing I agree with him on!
People seem to misunderstand when fans say Havertz isn’t the answer. Its not that he has a bad goal haul or doesn’t contribute because he does
It’s about those really tight games where you need to turn a draw into a win, it’s those games where a real striker is key and makes the difference
What I’m reading from your comment is that we need more game breakers. They don’t have to be a striker though imo. When City won the treble, I remember Rodri scoring important goals in tight games where Haaland had been marked out of the game.
By the way I’ve seen Havertz score goals in tight games. The Champions League winning goal is the most famous one of course. Another one that comes to mind is a game we were drawing against Brentford in 23/24. He came off the bench and scored the winner.
PSG have been the best team this year and Hakimi(a RB) scored some clutch goals in tight games. It really doesn’t have to be Havertz or Gyokeres imo.
We need a “striker” end of. We have nobody who is an out and out striker. We have now.
Finally we have a proven goalscorer who could make the difference. I am definitely more confident about our EPL title hopes now.