Sam Allardyce has never been shy about sharing his opinions.
Now, he has weighed in on Arsenal’s transfer plans.
Mikel Arteta is looking to strengthen the attack this summer, with Morgan Rogers and Bradley Barcola targeted for the left-wing position.
But there is also the possibility Arsenal can move for a striker, if certain dominoes fall.
Their top target for that position is Julian Alvarez, who is reportedly open to a move to the Emirates.
💰 How much cash plus Viktor Gyokeres should Arsenal demand for Julian Alvarez?
👀 Atletico Madrid want £52m + Gyokeres…
Speaking on No Tippy Tappy Football, Allardyce was asked whether Alvarez would be a good signing for Arsenal.
“No,” the former England manager said, bluntly. “They’d have to change the way they play. I don’t think that would suit him and I don’t think it would suit Arsenal.
“I don’t know if he fits in what they do. It’s a big number and they have to be definitely sure because it’s one of the hardest positions to fill.
“He needs to be 20 goals plus if he’s going to be £90million.”
Alvarez is not your traditional centre-forward. Instead, he does a lot of everything.
He drops deep, combines in tight spaces, presses relentlessly, but also possesses frightening ball-striking quality — as he showed with his winning goal against Switzerland.
Arsenal are being linked with Julian Alvarez…sum up his performance for Argentina last night in three words
At Manchester City and Atletico Madrid, he has been deployed in a variety of roles, sometimes as a second striker, sometimes as a number ten, sometimes as a wide forward.
And that’s sort of exactly the point Allardyce is missing.
Arsenal played their best football when they had a similar striker to Julian Alvarez
Arsenal played some of their best football under Arteta with Gabriel Jesus as their main striker.
We know Jesus is not a 20-goal-a-season centre-forward. Rather, he drops deep, links play, presses from the front and creates space for the wide players.
It’s no coincidence that Gabriel Martinelli’s best season came with Jesus playing down the middle.
The wingers were able to run inside and attack the space created from Jesus, and Martinelli ended up with 15 non-penalty goals in the Premier League.
Jesus was instrumental in transforming Arsenal into genuine title contenders during the 2022-23 season before injuries derailed everything.
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Alvarez offers a similar, and arguably superior, profile to the Brazilian. He has a similar intelligence of movement, the same relentless work rate, but with a higher ceiling in terms of goals.
The Argentine scored 49 in all competitions for Atletico in his two seasons at the club, despite their style not always suiting him.
Arsenal have reverted to a more conventional nine in Viktor Gyokeres, but it hasn’t been smooth sailing for the Swede.
Their attacking play can be too rigid at times, and seeing as they come up against low blocks so often, Gyokeres has sometimes struggled to impose himself.
The system Arteta previously built around Jesus showed exactly how a profile like Alvarez’s can thrive at the Emirates, and the Atletico Madrid striker is an even better version of that player.
Whether the huge fee is justifiable is a separate debate. But the idea that Alvarez would not fit Arsenal fundamentally misunderstands what this team does.
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