Darren Bent says there’s a striker he wants Arsenal to sign who he’d take over Erling Haaland

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Darren Bent has revealed that there is one striker in world football who he’d rather sign for Arsenal than Erling Haaland.

The Gunners have been lacking a prolific number nine in recent years, with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus not producing the volume of goals that Mikel Arteta would hope for, despite both players largely performing well.

Viktor Gyokeres has arrived from Sporting CP for £63 million to try to solve this issue, although the Swede is yet to convince Arsenal fans that he’ll be capable of doing so, albeit only three matches have been played.

With a lack of truly elite centre-forwards on the market, the North Londoners settled for Gyokeres, who they’ll hope can start to build form over the coming weeks.

• READ MORE: Confirmed Arsenal summer 2025 transfer ins and outs, signings and done deals

Darren Bent says he would sign Kylian Mbappe over Erling Haaland for Arsenal

Erling Haaland has scored 88 goals in 100 Premier League games since signing for Manchester City in the summer of 2022.

The Norwegian’s incredible ability to find himself in dangerous positions inside the box to score goals hasn’t been replicated to the same level by anyone before in the English top flight.

That said, former Tottenham striker Darren Bent believes another striker on the continent would be a better fit for Arsenal.

Asked to select between Haaland and Kylian Mbappe for the Gunners, Bent picked the latter.

“Now, if you’re asking me as a fan and Arsenal have got the opportunity to sign one of them, I’m taking Mbappe,” he said on talkSPORT.

“I’m taking Mbappe because, for whatever you want to say, Kane is an unbelievable striker, Haaland is incredible as well, but not only does Mbappe score a lot of goals, but in the World Cup final when the lights are the most bright, I’ve seen him step up in two.

“He was 18 in one and scored a hat-trick in the next one. I think when it comes to playing, Mbappe is ready to go.”

Arsenal almost signed Mbappe back in 2017, with Arsene Wenger holding a meeting with his representatives, but were eventually beaten to the punch by Paris Saint-Germain.

Would Kylian Mbappe be better for Arsenal than Erling Haaland?

In a hypothetical world where it’s plausible Arsenal could land one of Mbappe or Haaland, it is interesting to theorise who would be the better option.

While both players would obviously be exceptional and score a lot of goals, the Frenchman is arguably a slightly better fit.

Haaland is a low-touch striker who offers little outside of his goalscoring. Meanwhile, Mbappe adds a lot to the build-up, and can essentially play as a winger.

As shown by the data above, while Haaland is marginally better at getting into goal-scoring positions, Mbappe offers a lot more creatively.

Arteta likes his striker to contribute outside of the box and in the final action, and the World Cup winner does this more frequently than the former Manchester City man.

Thus, Bent’s claim is certainly a valid take, regardless of Haaland’s Premier League experience.