OFFICIALLY DONE: Arsenal announces another transfer signing as striker completes Gunners move

Football might have come to a brief stop, but there is no rest for the wicked, and Arsenal have a potentially era-defining few months ahead of them.

To ensure they get over the line in the Premier League next season, Mikel Arteta and new Sporting Director Andrea Berta need to nail their transfer dealings, and if they can bring in Rodrygo, that’d be an excellent start.

The Real Madrid superstar has been linked with a £85m move to the Emirates on multiple occasions over the last few weeks, and the combination of his outlandish ability and stature in the game makes him someone who could really move the needle in the Gunners’ favour next year.

However, if recent reports are to be believed, the North Londoners could now be closing in on another attacking talent who’d be an even more exciting signing than the Brazilian international.

Arsenal transfer news

Given Arsenal’s position in English football and how close they seem to be to glory, it’s hardly been a surprise to see them linked with a plethora of incredibly exciting players in recent weeks, such as Bradley Barcola and Takefusa Kubo.

The former could cost the club a whopping £101m this summer, which might be an eyewatering sum of money, but it might also be fair enough, as in 58 games for Paris Saint-Germain this season, he scored 21 goals and provided 19 assists.

Kubo would be a far cheaper option at around £50m, but he’s not been anywhere near as prolific as the Frenchman, racking up a reasonable but unspectacular haul of seven goals and four assists in 52 games.

However, while a wide player would be a welcome addition to the club, Arteta and Co’s priority has to be a new number nine, someone like Benjamin Sesko.

Fortunately, a recent report from Caught Offside has claimed that Arsenal have maintained their intense interest in the Slovenian striker.

In fact, on top of confirming that Berta has already held direct talks with RB Leipzig, the report has revealed that the Gunners are now among the frontrunners for the player, alongside London rivals Chelsea.

However, it won’t be a cheap deal complete; the report states that Leipzig want €80m for their star attacker, which is around £68m, and a fee Arsenal should pay, as not only would Sesko be an incredible signing, but a more exciting one than Rodrygo as well.

Why Sesko would be more exciting than Rodrygo

So the first thing to say is that Rodrygo would, in fact, be an incredibly exciting signing for Arsenal to make this summer. After all, he’s a Champions League and La Liga-winning winger who knows how to score a goal or two.

However, for our money, the “instinctive” Sesko, as dubbed by journalist Seb Stafford-Bloor, would be just that bit more exciting, and there are several reasons why.

The first is that, in signing him, Arteta and Co will finally be addressing the club’s longstanding need for an out-and-out striker, and more than that, he’d be coming in with a proven track record of scoring goals and providing assists.

For example, in the 22/23 campaign, he scored 18 goals and provided four assists in 41 appearances; last season, the Slovenian international scored 18 goals and provided two assists in 42 appearances, and then this year, the Leipzig star was able to rack up an impressive haul of 21 goals and six assists in 45 appearances, totalling 3258 minutes.

In other words, the Radeče-born “monster,” as dubbed by analyst Ben Mattinson, averaged a goal involvement every 1.66 games, or every 120.66 minutes this season.

In contrast, the Real Madrid star scored 13 goals and provided ten assists in 50 appearances, totalling 3290 minutes, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 2.17 games, or every 143.04 minutes, in a far better team.

Finally, on top of his current ability in front of goal, the former Salzburg gem has received some rave reviews from scouts and analysts, with the respected EBL claiming he “has the potential to become the best #9 in the world” – which is also what makes him that bit more appealing than Viktor Gyokeres, another of the more heavily linked strikers in recent weeks.

He argues that this is down to the combination of him being “a 6’4 speed demon” who is “unstoppable in transition” and the fact “he can dribble”, all while also being “an elite ball-striker.”

That might sound hyperbolic, but a few of these strengths are on show in this goal, with him using his acceleration and mighty left foot – and you only need to look through some of his other goals to see his immense technical ability.

Ultimately, Arsenal need more than one attacking signing this summer, but from his goal tally this season to his potential and technical ability, Sesko would be the club’s most exciting addition.