Former England midfielder turned pundit, Karen Carney insists Arsenal is making progress, but she also believes the Gunners need to sign a striker to add more quality to their squad this season.
Mikel Arteta has signed some impressive players recently, with the likes of Ben White and Martin Odegaard performing well at the Emirates.
However, the club is yet to invest in an attacker since Arteta has been manager, and that should happen in the summer.
The Gunners could lose Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Eddie Nketiah and Alexandre Lacazette.
Carney believes the Gunners are moving in the right direction with their recent return to form and insists they need a striker that can guarantee up to 20 goals per season now.
She told the Guardian: ‘The major position holding Arsenal back is centre-forward, where they have problems.
‘Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s absence is well documented but he has also struggled for form over the past 18 months.
‘Eddie Nketiah is yet to sign a new deal and Alexandre Lacazette is doing well currently but it remains to be seen whether he is the long-term future as the main striker.
‘They need to find some gem who will give them 20 goals a season if they are to reach the next level.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Goals win games and wins help clubs to climb up the league table, and that is missing at Arsenal now.
The Gunners have done admirably well in the absence of Aubameyang recently, but the club needs to score more goals to achieve its targets.
Hopefully, they will add a top striker to the squad at the end of this season.
Arsenal already has
50m Laca 2 PL goals
60m Aubameyang 4 PL goals
72m Pepe 0 PL goals
182m in fees. 31mill annual salaries. 6 PL Goals
Free ESR 7 PL goals
7m martinelli 4 PL goals
30 m Odegaard 4 PL goals
Free Saka has 3 PL goals
So 37mill fees 16m in salaries scored 18 goals.
The evidence would suggest the last thing Arsenal needs is another expensive striker.
I’m not sure what solution you are suggesting – just promote someone? We’ve tried already and found that we don’t have anyone who’s currently better than Laca. We need a striker who can score goals consistently – if that striker is expensive or cheap, it doesn’t matter.
Also, Auba may have cost a lot, but he has scored a lot of goals in previous seasons, which did justify his cost – so it’s not as though expensive strikers never work out. Whatever the price, we just have to be careful and make sure to get the right striker.
That is the most deluded comment i ve read in a while. I mean, how can Pepe score when he doesnt feature? He played as a starter in our first matches when we got battered and was dropped afterwards. I dont see you mentioning that last year he had more goals than Saka had in 3years. As far as the two senior strikers are concerned, we are well aware that Auba needs to be shipped as he contributed nothing but goals, and nowadays he doesnt even do that. Laca offers something different to the team and i consider him very useful, even though he ought to be more clinical. Manipulating stats and saying half truths to support your “theory” and calling it “evidence” is most likely evidence that you do not understand (or you intentionally misinterpet) statistics.
Good points – also, how many of the goals our midfielders have scored this year have been facilitated by Laca’s (or Auba’s tbf) forward play? Would they have scored so many if Nketiah had been playing instead?
Agree with what has been mentioned above…
If we manage to get a young goal scoring striker to add to what you have mentioned above then we are set, but who as;
– We have the funds to buy
– Auba, Laca & Eddie are leaving (CF postion wide open)
– Balogun will be loaned
This will all depend on where we finish at the end of the season also & when the others go. If we get Top4 i can see us spending big again especially for a Striker.
This summer when Saliba returns, we replace Elneny&Niles with someone to partner Thomas and we buy a goal scorer. May be enough to have a go!
But we have Strikers but the best isn’t always got out of them.
Arsenal need a new striker? With one well into his thirties, stripped of the captaincy and completely out of form, and two out of contact this summer? Who could have guessed?
After a summer window where “fans” bemoaned the fact that we had only signed “squad players” who have gone on to form the backbone of the team (admittedly with some of the youth players mixed in), can we not just now “trust the process”, and believe that there is a plan and let the management make their signings/decisions before making any judgements?