by The inevitable consequence of Arsenal’s shock defeat to West Ham United, in which Mikel Arteta’s team took 30 shots but failed to score on any of them, was another debate about forwards and, more precisely, whether Arsenal need a new one.
Barely a game goes by without the club’s fans calling for the signing of a new center forward. Now that the January transfer window is just days away from opening, those demands are louder than ever.
However, there are other areas of the squad that also need to be addressed, and Arteta’s short-term needs do not necessarily coincide with calls for a long-term solution to be found in attack. After all, squad building is a complicated process and the risks of making bad decisions are as high as the rewards of signing the right players.
Here, Telegraph Sport assesses the various issues facing Arteta and sporting director Edu as they look for ways to strengthen the team in the short, medium and long term.
Short term: defensive coverage
Arteta wants a squad in which there are two quality players for each position. That would mean eight defenders, two for each role in the back four. If everyone is fit, Arsenal currently have eight options at the back, but one of them is Cedric Soares, who is not part of their plans and his contract expires in the summer.
Therefore, even without injuries, Arsenal would still be interested in bringing in a defensive player. Indeed, Telegraph Sport understands that they have been considering potential recruits in defensive positions since the end of last season. They are long-time admirers of Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi, for example, and have also been looking for options in the European market.
The situation has been made more pressing by injury problems: new signing Jurrien Timber is sidelined with a long-term knee problem, while Takehiro Tomiyasu has been absent since early December. Tomiyasu will also play for Japan in the upcoming Asian Cup.
Therefore, at this stage of the season, Arsenal have a worrying shortage of defensive options. They currently only have six senior players for the back four positions, and one of them is Cedric, who has not played a single minute in the Premier League this season. At the beginning of the campaign, midfielder Thomas Partey was playing at right back, but he is also currently injured.
It should not be forgotten that Arsenal’s title challenge collapsed last year after Tomiyasu and William Saliba suffered injuries. Now they are dangerously close to finding themselves in a similar situation. A defensive signing in January, perhaps just a short-term move, would make sense.
Medium term: attack firepower
Over the last 18 months, Arsenal have repeatedly shown their willingness to spend big money elsewhere. They made efforts to sign Raphinha from Leeds United in the summer of 2022, before he joined Barcelona, and also looked into the possibility of buying Pedro Neto from Wolves.
A few months later, in the January transfer window, Arsenal pushed hard for the signature of Mykhailo Mudryk, before Chelsea snapped up the deal. That same month, Chelsea also overtook them in the battle to sign Joao Félix on loan from Atlético Madrid. Last summer, they showed a tentative interest in Moussa Diaby before he joined Aston Villa.
Arsenal eventually ended up signing Leandro Trossard from Brighton in January 2023, but he is not, nor has he ever been, an out-and-out winger who can directly replace Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka. Apart from youth player Reiss Nelson, there are no other traditional wingers in the team.
Do you need an alternative to Martinelli and Saka? It would certainly ease the burden of those two young men. Martinelli, especially, is struggling to make an impact at the moment – the 22-year-old has only scored two goals in 17 league games this season.
The alternative is to sign a new center forward and use Gabriel Jesús as a full-back. This, evidently, is what many Arsenal fans want to see. The problem here is that there aren’t many top-class centre-forwards on the market and Arsenal’s finances in January are tight. After all, it was for financial reasons that they signed David Raya from Brentford on an initial loan.
Ivan Toney’s name is frequently mentioned by fans and pundits but, as Telegraph Sport detailed last month, any move towards him in January should be considered highly unlikely. Brentford don’t want to sell next month and it would take a huge fee to even tempt them. Having been unable to pay £30m for Raya a few months ago, how could Arsenal return to Brentford with a bid close to £100m for Toney?
A big-money move for a new center forward is more likely in the summer, unless there are significant departures in January (Eddie Nketiah, Aaron Ramsdalde and Jakub Kiwior could all attract interest, as could Partey).
In the long term, Napoli striker Victor Osimhen is a player Arsenal admire. Arsenal are believed to have first registered their interest in Osimhen in the spring of 2022. Last year he scored 31 goals in 39 appearances for Napoli in all competitions, helping them win the Serie A title, and is expected to is in the region of £100 million.
Long term: evolution of the midfield
At the end of this season, Jorginho and Mohamed Elneny will be out of contract, and Partey will only have 12 months left on his contract. Jorginho’s contract could be extended for another year but neither of these players are long-term options. Of the current midfielders, only Declan Rice will remain at the club in the coming years.
Therefore, at any time soon, Arsenal will need to add at least one more player in that central position. They previously made offers for Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz, who is improving every season, and also showed interest in Everton’s Amadou Onana. Martín Zubimendi, of Real Sociedad and Spain, is another potential target.
It’s another area of the squad that needs strengthening and, if the right opportunity presents itself, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Arsenal made a move for a midfielder sooner rather than later.
