Arsenal are competing well in the Premier League title race, as they find themselves one point off the top, having also navigated through the Champions League group stage with ease.
However, whilst Arsenal have been strong defensively, question have been raised about their attack, with Mikel Arteta’s side not flying forward with the same fluidity as they did last season.
Gabriel Jesus has been sensational since his arrival from Manchester City last year, but many now believe that he is not clinical enough when compared to the likes of Erling Haaland, and despite his quality, he may not be the goalscorer Arsenal need to win the Premier League.
Arsenal have been linked with strikers such as Ivan Toney of Brentford, Victor Osimhen of Napoli and Marcos Leonardo of Santos amongst others, and it has now been claimed that a pure goalscorer would do more for Arsenal than a player like Jesus.
Ally McCoist highlights Gabriel Jesus problem
Speaking to iNews, former Rangers star and pundit Ally McCoist claimed that whilst Jesus is excellent at what he does, Arsenal’s squad may be more suited to having a clinical goalscorer leading the line.
“He’s [Jesus] a very, very clever player but Arsenal have got lots of clever players. They’ve got Odegaard, different class, Havertz is a very clever player, Saka’s a very clever player. I’m not sure they need another clever player as a centre-forward,” McCoist pointed out.
“Haaland is the best in the business at this moment in time. I’m not doing him a disservice by saying he’s not a clever player of course he is, but all he wants to do is score goals. And I think they could do with somebody like that rather than another nice, clever player.”
Arsenal’s striker confusion
When Mikel Arteta first returned to Arsenal, he had a pure goalscorer in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at his disposal. Aubameyang was later released due to a drop in performance levels, as well as attitude problems, but at his best he was one of the most clinical forwards in Europe.
Arsenal fans complained at the time that Aubameyang would offer very little when he was not scoring, and would contribute little to build-up play. It was then a breath of fresh air when Jesus arrived and helped facilitate Arsenal’s other attacking players.
Last season saw Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli all contribute a lot of goals, and this would not have been the case if they were playing behind a pure goalscorer rather than someone like Jesus.
Arsenal are not short of attacking options, and given how important Jesus is to the attack as a whole, there is little to be gained by signing someone who may score a few more himself, but reduce the overall output from the attack.
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