With top tier strikers at a premium and their availability scarce, it is time Arsenal and Arsene Wenger rolled the dice on a centre-forward that represents an improvement on their current stocks.
Ever since the departure of Robin van Persie to the red half of Manchester in 2012, Arsenal have lacked a real high class hit-man in their armoury.
For the three consecutive summers that have passed by, the Gunners have been guilty of hesitancy in the transfer market, dragging their heels and haggling over potential transfer fees even with a reported financial balance sitting a tick under £160 million.
Last summer there was Karim Benzema, who Arsenal flirted with for months without making their interest concrete.
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Then there was the protracted saga involving then Liverpool star Luis Suarez, when that famous £1 failed to trigger a release clause that was thought to be in the Uruguayan’s contract.
Bizarrely, no improved followup bid was made to test the Merseyside club’s resolve.
And to complete the hat-trick of summer striker screwups was front-man Gonzalo Higuain, who was close to joining Arsenal from Real Madrid, only for the player to be signed by Napoli from under their noses.
Arsenal refused to budge on their valuation of the Argentinian marksman and were promptly blown out of the water by the Italian club’s offer as Real accepted the fee gleefully.
It is this sort of dithering that has cost the Gunners dearly in the transfer market, and how they would love to have a predatory finisher like Higuain in their ranks right now.
Instead it has been the much maligned Olivier Giroud who has led the line since van Persie’s exit, and the Frenchman has been consistently inconsistent.
While his goalscoring record is nothing to sneeze at, netting double figures in four consecutive seasons, Giroud’s lack of killer instinct in front of goal as well as his static movement indicates he is not the man to fire Arsenal to major honours.
The 29-year-old went 15 games without a goal during the club’s most pivotal months of the league season, a barren spell that should virtually seal his fate as no longer being Arsenal’s first choice striker.
With Danny Welbeck heartbreakingly ruled out for nine months with a knee injury, the need for a new centre-forward has never been as urgent, but again finding that marquee man will not be easy.
Arsenal have been linked with a host of big name strikers already this summer including Alvaro Morata, Romelu Lukaku, Mauro Icardi, Alexandre Lacazette, Daniel Sturridge and funnily enough Higuain once again.
These are realistic names the club can peruse – names like Pierre-Emrick Aubameyang and Zlatan Ibrahomvic are pie in the sky targets that are nothing more then pipe dreams.
All these names represent a risk in one way or another, whether it be age, experience, price tag, impotency and not being the finished article.
But it has got to the stage now where Arsenal, after three gun-shy summers, must now take a chance and heavily invest in a striker to provide some much needed ammunition in attack.
A paltry 31 goals in 19 games at the Emirates Stadium and just 19 of Mesut Ozil’s whopping 146 chances created hitting the back of the net are damming statistics that really emphasise the struggles the Gunners endured in the final third.
A breath of fresh air is required to revitalise Arsenal’s stale attack – someone to provide a different dimension as well as easing the goalscoring burden on Giroud, who would benefit from having another quality striker to compete with.
Wenger explained that he could not find a striker to sign last summer and was not convinced by the potential solutions in the market.
With funds available and the backing of owner Stan Kroenke to spend as he pleases, the ball is now firmly in Wenger’s court.
There is absolutely no excuse. It is time Wenger went all in, took a punt and left no stone unturned in his approach in the market rather than ruing what might have been in potentially his final year at the helm.
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