Arsenal’s search for a striker has been well documented in recent times. The club has been linked to a host of Europe’s elites as they seek to address a problem area that has cost them in recent seasons. Recently, Benjamin Šeško and Victor Gyökeres have emerged as the club’s primary targets. There were reports of a split internally between the two players, but it seems the Gunners have finally made their choice. The club have begun concrete talks for Šeško as they seek to complete a deal for a player they have coveted for over a year. Reports of Leipzig demanding £92 million for the Slovenian have left the Gunners undeterred as they are actively pushing to bring him to North London.
News of Arsenal’s pursuit has drawn mixed reviews from supporters. In fact, many Gooners would prefer a different profile at centre-forward. Victor Gyökeres was, and still is, the best option for most supporters and that is for good reason. The Swedish international is Europe’s most in-form striker, with 97 goals scored in the last two seasons. He is a player who has an insatiable desire to score goals, which is exactly what this Arsenal team is missing. With that in mind, it is understandable why supporters would favour a move for the Swede. What it does not justify, however, is the critique of Šeško.
Gunners must balance expectations with reality
Fans have already started writing off the Slovenian before he has even donned the iconic red and white. Some have been quick to belittle his goal contributions as they pale in comparison to Gyökeres’. Having just turned 22 today, at the time of writing, Šeško is far from the finished article. He is still a raw talent who needs time to refine his game before he can rank in the upper echelons. This may take a few years, but Gooners do not have the patience after falling short repeatedly.
Regardless, the player should be given the benefit of the doubt. Supporters are analysing his limitations with fine detail, but they fail to see the bigger picture. Šeško possesses all the qualities necessary to become one of the best strikers in the world, and that could be achieved much sooner than expected. Most of the areas where he can improve are coaching related and he will likely benefit greatly under Mikel Arteta. His underlying numbers are strong and clearly indicate his potential.
A stronger frontline could unlock Šeško’s potential
It is also worth remembering that Arsenal are expected to sign more than one forward this summer. Pairing the Slovenian with a quality winger such as Nico Williams or Rodrygo would significantly enhance the frontline’s strength.
Gyökeres’ incredible output has undoubtedly shaped the way fans view Šeško, but it is unlikely the Swede would replicate those numbers in the Premier League, even with a top side like Arsenal.
These are my thoughts, but I would love to hear yours in the comments. Thoughts on the article?
BENJAMIN KENNETH
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I watched the Champions League final yesterday and I’m sure many others here did. One remarkable thing about the PSG team is how young they are, and yet that wasn’t seen as a negative. It was a strength actually. They had 18,19,20 year olds playing key roles. Their best player on the night, Doue, was 19!
Last summer we were linked to Doue and Neves and many scoffed at these links because they were ‘raw’ or ‘inexperienced’. Well, they won it all with these kids and the current PSG side is arguably better than it ever was with proven superstars like Messi, Neymar, Mbappe, Ibrahimovic etc
I brought up PSG because we have a lot in common. One of their biggest strengths is pressing, just like us. Sesko seems like a good fit for how we play given his athleticism and work rate. I also believe he’ll score more goals given better players around him. Desire Doue went from 10 goals and assists to 28 goals and assists in just one season when he moved from Rennais to PSG.
Building a good team is better than merely collecting good players who may or may not fit together. Simply, Sesko is a better fit for our team than most of the others.
Good post and something along what I was thinking. Sesko is a really, really good player. I’d love Gyokores but Sesko is exciting as well. He could easily score a goal every 2 games which is only slightly higher than what he did last season. In a team where goals are spread around then that would be plenty.
“Building a good team is better than merely collecting good players who may or may not fit together. Simply, Sesko is a better fit for our team than most of the others.”
100% agree. You get it. There are some other team tweaks still needed of course, but Sesko will be an excellent acquisition. He fits immediately into our system and will add both a fast and dynamic No. 9 presence, and a major aerial threat to help overcome the bus-parking mid-table sides we always struggle against and drop points to. His acquisition would also mean we aren’t risking upsetting the apple cart with a wild card. We’ve become competitive with the best teams in the PL and Europe over the last few years, largely thanks to our world class defenders. Now it’s not just about acquiring any attacker with great numbers in the last season or two, but tuning the attack in very specific ways.
To be fair, we won’t know until a player starts playing for us.
I think almost all signings are a gamble to some degree
Sometimes a player flourishes some where and then when transferred to another club doesn’t do well
There have been Arsenal players who didn’t do well with us or wasn’t given enough opportunites and flourished after transferring to another club
Also the Premier League is different to other leagues and it can take time to adjust if they can at all
I believe and hope whomever we sign improves us
I like the players you mentioned in the article. I think very highly of Gyokores and Sesko, as well as Rodrygo and Nico W. I think they would improve us. How much they would improve us God only knows lol
Spot on.
The Big Slovenia is a gamble but so too is Gyokers, and others.
Just hope we get this one right after waiting in what looking to be like ages.
Am not one of those who’s convinced a striker is our problem, it is scoring against team with eleven players behind the ball.
Our problem is a midfield problem, a great deal of the budget should be spent on another creative midfielder, one that will take the bull by the horn and even inspire our under pressure captain
I believe that’s why we are getting Zubimendi. Partey is a great player and i hope he stays but he has declined physically this season. Still great in the duels and his ground coverage has plummeted. Also he is the type to always play forward and trying line breaking passes, which is good but only if done in moderation. He cannot really set the tempo which forces Odegaard to always drop back deep to distribute play.
His flaws are where Zubimendi excels which will allow Odegaard to play much higher and focus more on the attacking third of the pitch than on build up in our half. Partey and Zubimendi are great in different scenarios and can be interchanged depending on the opposition.
I hope we do get Zubi, I agree with your analysis that he’d give opportunity for Ode to push up more. People wonder why Odegaard is everywhere and not pressing the goal? Partly it’s because he’s being constrained by needing to cover more ground than last season.
At the beginning of the season I posted somewhere (maybe here?) that my biggest worry as a fan was not Saka or Partey getting injured for a month, as much as Odegaard. Despite how good Kai or Ethan are, Ode is currently irreplaceable in our setup. When firing on all cylinders he’s easily among the top 5 or so attacking midfielders in the world. For anyone paying attention – there’s a pretty good reason that he was our player of the season, in our highest scoring season ever.
the team needs attacking mid a no.10 who can score and LW
Zubimendi will fit perfectly but we also needs a number ten as Leverkusen s Florians.
It’s clear by the reaction of some fans that if we end up buying Sesko, he will be playing with a target on his back. They will be waiting for him to falter to come whining because they wanted another player Gyokeres or Osimhen.
Worse is the rumors spread that Arteta and Berta are at odd with one prefering Sesko and the other Gyokeres and some have already taken the bait. So Arteta haters will already be on his back for the sole reason that they don’t like Arteta.
Pretty pathetic in my opinion but it’s the world we live in.
Like Onyango, I watched yesterday’s demolition of an ageing Inter.
Personally, I think Šeško would be a better fit than Gyökeres. I feel that Šeško is young enough to be able adapt to the Arsenal style, whereas Gyökeres seems to be a player who will require Arsenal to change their style to fit him (like Harland did with Man City).
Kenneth, indeed your views are yours but there is logic in some of your points. First and foremost, Arsenal has not just jumped on any striker target. This has been an ongoing scouting process lasting over one year. In fact Sesko was even talked about last summer but his club was not willing to sell then. The fact that Arsenal has still gone back for him means they have identified something special in him.
The Gyokeres-Sesko comparisons might be good for academics but the reality on the ground might be different. The Portuguese league is very different from the English league. I believe the German league is nearer the English league than the Portuguese one. Somebody who shines in the Portuguese league might not necessarily do the same in EPL. We have vivid examples of people who came from other leagues with a lot of acclaim but flopped in EPL. We all remember Alexander Lacazette and his underwhelming Arsenal career. Our fans were eager to kick out Olivier Giroud to create room for Lacazette but what happened? The careers of the two compatriots at Arsenal are simply incomparable. Giroud was a success while Lacazette’s career at Arsenal was simply average.
We should learn to trust the manager and his colleagues to do a good job because by and large their recruitment has been successful. Apart from one or two players, Arteta’s recruits have been good. Besides this is a manager who got us from mid table to an FA cup, three consecutive second place finishings as well as a Champions league semi final. At this rate, who knows where we shall be in the future? I believe at his age Sesko will be a success at Arsenal. Let us be optimistic.
@David Rusa
Gyokeres came through the English Championship division, which is as close to the EPL as one can get. Just saying…
Sure, but it’s all relative. Bearing in mind that the Championship is made up of teams that are have not proven good enough (yet) to compete over a whole season in the Premier League. Only a small number of players not identified as potentially EPL level at a younger age, successfully can make the step up later in their careers. So in that way a comparison to secondary/tertiary European leagues we recruit from like Portugal, Belgium, Austria and Norway isn’t really all that wide of the mark…
Gyokeres scored 38 in 91 games for Coventry in the Championship. A good return for the league for a young striker. It’s easy to see why he looks like he has the potential. And obviously he’s been a great fit for Sporting in the Portuguese league. But raw numbers are not the only thing recruiting is (or ever should be) based on. Maybe he’s a better fit for another team…
Good points made here David. You’re right, the pursuit of Sesko has been based on very extensive analysis. It’s probably over thought! It’s certainly not a simple “buy who looks good this year because they ran up great numbers in the PL (or another league)” type of situation. If that was the case last July, we could have just gone and bought Dominik Solanke. But look how that turned out for Tottenham…
Management is not calculating based only on potential returns, but how to make the whole team better at the same time, maintain momentum, and do what’s right for the club at several levels. It’s like 4D chess, to borrow a phrase, haha. And then they have to actually reach agreement with players and other clubs. We’re not the type of club (ahem, Chelsea) to randomly gamble on players.
Sesko plays like van persie with single left footed striker even is weak while Viktor can use both feet is playing physical game like Aguelo Kun can pass through more defenders and is so experienced in age even playing in different leagues in addition Viktor can defend in case of difficulties
Sell Jesus and havertz and buy them both
Who is going to buy Jesus when he’s still recovering from his ACL injury ? The earliest we would be able to sell him will be in the January window.
Havertz should be ready to play midfield.
Its that simple.
All that fan diatribe around Sasko being so young and he needs time hardly holds water in so far as his readiness as a frontman ie a striker. Older fans (myself included) recall anelka arriving at 17 years and he was ready at this tender age. I recall I put monies on him to score the last goal v Newcastle in the cup final and i had the correct 2-nil score. It was clear the lad was so rapid that he maintained petrol when all others had ran out (Newcastle players).
My simple point is coming here (to the arsenal) at 21 yrs is a big plus. If indeed it materializes fans need to do much better to encourage and elicit the potential in players; not to put players off from choosing us.
We want a striker who knows where the goal is.I would go for Gyokeres we need goals.
We also need to rest the number 9 shirt bse it has been a curse to the team. Jesus is a good player but carrying that cursed number has destroyed his career. I vividly remember Edwardo we lost him in minutes and that was it. The invincibles had Jeffers but he was not close to the first eleven and we survived
Both are good strikers though to be honest sesko fits directly into the system than gyokeres. Better we buy him with a lethal winger…
Psg had no dangerous striker but pacy wingers… Our focus should be on Rodrigo, Nico Williams or barcola plus a deputy to odegard.
I don’t trust anyone at Arsenal. Arsenal at last may end the transfer window without signing any striker. Arsenal are never short of excuses. The bosses may say our key strikers like Jesus and Havettz are returning afresh from injuries. They may say we’ve found new system to play Nwaneri as a no. 9, in January we may buy etc. Don’t trust the club’s unpredictable transfer process.
maybe you have a point. before Isak joined new castle, he wasn’t that prolific. never scores 20 league goals but look now he is is so lethal
I hope we purchase Sesko….he is a pressing monster and would suit our style. This might reduce the amount of pressing that Odegaard does. Odegaard presses too much, leads by example as captain, but often had too little in the tank to perform his creative duties. Anything that tempers Martin’s predilection for running around like a headless chicken is a good thing.
I would love to see Rodrigo, sesko and saka leading arsenal front
Personally I would prefer Sesko over Gyokeres. Imagine the set piece routines- Gabriel, Saliba, Calafiori, Sesko, Rice(if he’s not taken it). The fear amongst the opposition can’t really be measured.
It is not for nothing that our most successful years were built around the time of six-foot plus geniuses- Vieira, Gilberto,Campbell, Titi etc.
Bring back the physicality. Bring in the six footers.
Personally, I already have a nickname for the Slovenian… remove the German from the BFG (nickname for Per Metersacker)…Put in its place the nationality of Sesko.
Aaaah there you go. Let me dream Gooners
The issue of Sesko’s age doesn’t arise when one considers how PSG’s youngsters demolished Inter last night. It looks like age as a factor in determining football siccess is gradually being eroded. The ageing teams are losing it. If Liverpool doesn’t recruit young people it may not repeat last season’s success. Even towards the season’s end their players became leggy! Man City’s case was self-evident. Do we need to go further than Myles Lewis Skelly’s and Ethan Nwaneri’s successful season? So the obsession with age might be misplaced.