Viktor Gyokeres became Arsenal’s new striker in the summer, but he wasn’t the only one on Andrea Berta’s list.
As the summer transfer window progressed, it became clear that Arsenal’s two striker targets were Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko.
In the end, Berta preferred Gyokeres due to his vision that the Swede would have more of a chance at hitting the ground running at Arsenal, who needed near-instant results.
To some degree, the sporting director’s decision has proven to be right, as Sesko is struggling at Manchester United, but when looking at the other names that were on his list, questions need to be raised.
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Julian Alvarez and Hugo Ekitike were Arsenal’s plan C striker transfer options
Berta’s record of delivering goalscorers to Atletico Madrid was top; Antoine Griezmann, Fernando Torres, Diego Costa and Julian Alvarez, to name a few.
Alvarez was the Italian’s final striker signing at Atletico before he made the move to Arsenal, making it no surprise to learn that the Argentine was then desired in N5.
Alvarez was one name on Arsenal’s plan C striker list; the other was Hugo Ekitike.
Ekitike was considered the more likely signing of the two at the time, given that Atletico had only signed Alvarez from Manchester City the year prior.
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It turned out that neither striker was signed, as it was Gyokeres who arrived in North London, but did Berta make a mistake?
Signing a player who had scored 97 goals in his previous two seasons was never going to be a bad idea, but at present, Gyokeres is being hugely outperformed by both Alvarez and Ekitike.
While the World Cup winner has scored 11 goals already this season for Atletico, Arsenal are seeing what they’re missing in Ekitike, who is thriving at Liverpool.
The Frenchman has 10 goals for Arne Slot’s side following his summer transfer from Eintracht Frankfurt, eclipsing Gyokeres’ current tally of six.
Hindsight is a useful thing, and perhaps with it, Berta would’ve steered clear of Gyokeres in favour of Ekitike or Alvarez with their Premier League adaptation in mind.
What Thierry Henry said about Hugo Ekitike highlights transfer luck
On the topic of hindsight, things could’ve been so different for Liverpool with Ekitike, and Thierry Henry knows it.
Micah Richards revealed on The Rest Is Football podcast that before Liverpool signed Ekitike, Henry had doubts over whether he’d be a hit in England.
“I spoke to Thierry Henry, who knows him very well. He said, ‘He is going to be a very good player, but we have to see if he is ready for the Premier League’. It was a little bit of a gamble,” Richards explained.
“We knew what we were going to get from Isak. It seemed like Liverpool only went for Ekitike at the time, because they didn’t think they would get Isak.”
Liverpool went and signed one of the Premier League’s hottest strikers as well as Ekitike, spending a fortune on Alexander Isak, whose success would’ve been more predictable.
Or so fans thought, as Isak looks a shell of the player he was, while Ekitike is thriving.
It only shows just how difficult it is for clubs to make the right call on signings, as anything can change for a player after a transfer.
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