“I can’t believe Arteta let that guy leave when we need an aggressive striker, since leaving us he has scored 5-hattricks in five games…I think Arteta need to explain this to us”: Arsenal legend Arsene Wenger angered by Mikel Arteta’s decision to sell an aggressive academy striker who has scored five beautiful hat-tricks since leaving Arsenal in January
Arsenal have their full focus geared towards Tuesday’s Champions League round of 16 clash with PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
The Gunners avoided the play-off round after clinching a third-place finish in the league phase as they lost just one of their eight games to finish level on points with Barcelona in second.
The Gunners hopes of winning the Premier League title have been dealt a huge blow in recent weeks after a 1-0 home loss against West Ham United and 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest. They are now 13 points behind Liverpool in the race for the title but have played one game fewer than their rivals.
Arsenal’s key issue in recent months has been injuries to forward players with Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz all ruled out with the latter pair out for the season.
Arsenal’s January striker search
The Gunners did aim to address their lack of depth up front in January as they submitted a £60m bid to sign Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa. The bid was swiftly rejected by their Premier League rivals and Arsenal did not return with another offer. They were also linked with RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko but they did not act on that interest during the window.
Martinelli and Havertz both picked up injuries after the window shut with the Brazilian forced off in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at Newcastle United while Havertz was injured while training in Dubai with the rest of the squad.
Addressing his side’s lack of goals following the draw with Forest, Arteta said: “We tried and adapting the quality that we have, how we can help the team to create different things, to have threats from different qualities, probably they are not about arriving in the box and creating some magic moments, they are other kind of players,” he said.
“Try to adapt to that and do the best that we can. We have another day or two now to think before the PSV game, all the options that we have especially against a team that is in a low block. Even if they will arrive, if they will open up, if the opponent will be much better than us then I will probably be in a different state, I know that what’s lacking is that piece up there and I just said, there’s a lot to play for and we need to find the solution to unlock it.”
Arsenal sold striker in summer – he has scored 10 goals in February
After the draw with Forest, Arteta admitted he may have to look to solutions in the club’s academy when it comes to striking options. He has seen success doing that this season with the exciting emergences of Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri.
Arsenal’s recent struggles in front of goal has led to questions as to why Mika Biereth was sold by the club in the summer. The 22-year-old joined Arsenal’s academy five years ago but never made a senior appearance. He joined Sturm Graz on loan last season which led to a permanent £4m transfer last summer. In January, he joined Ligue 1 side Monaco for €13m from Sturm Graz.
Since that January move, he has scored three hat-tricks for Monaco while scoring 10 goals in total for the French outfit. While never given a chance at the Gunners, he has shown in recent weeks he could have provide some solutions for Arsenal – even if it was only for the short-term. Prior to his 10 goals for Monaco, he had netted 13 times for Sturm Graz
