Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has conceded that he will look to add a striker to his squad as he’s light in terms of options in that department.
The Gunners have brought in three new faces this summer, albeit with Granit Xhaka the only high-profile acquisition with Takuma Asano and Rob Holding joining him in north London.
Should Wenger harbour ambitions of competing for silverware at home and abroad this season, he’ll need to bolster his squad and reinforcements could be on the way as he openly revealed that they will look to sign a striker as they need another experienced player.
“At the moment I have not too many attacking options in terms of experienced players,” Wenger said, as noted by Sky Sports. “But let’s not forget we still have a few players at home.
“There are also a few players who did not play [against the MLS All-Star team], like [Santi] Cazorla and of course [Mesut] Ozil and [Aaron] Ramsey are at home. [Olivier] Giroud is also not here.
“So we have options but we will still look outside to find one more.”
It remains to be seen who Arsenal will target and realistically be able to bring in as they fell short in their pursuit of Alexandre Lacazette earlier this week, as reported by BBC Sport, and doubts remain over their ability to increase their offer to a level that will be deemed satisfactory by Lyon.
Further, Gonzalo Higuain swapped Napoli in favour of Juventus this week in a deal worth €90m, as per his release clause, and it’s certainly difficult to see Arsenal competing for those type of players for those type of fees.
Wenger will also have the additional headache of having to bring in a defender having now seen Per Mertesacker sidelined with a long-term injury, and so he certainly faces a busy fortnight if he wishes to have the pieces in place before the new Premier League campaign gets underway.
As has been the case in previous years, he hasn’t been afraid to wait until the end of the transfer window, but whether or not that’s really the wise thing to do as opposed to getting the work done early and allowing new faces to settle in their new surrounding is up for debate.