After almost toppling Manchester City in back-to-back Premier League campaigns, Arsenal must take that final step next season and end their two-decade title drought.
Mikel Arteta’s men finished just two points off the eventual champions last year, and while they produced the best defence in the entire league, they scored five goals fewer than the Sky Blues and with the margins as tight as they are, that’s an area the Gunners need to improve on.
Fortunately, reports over the last few weeks have seen the North Londoners heavily linked to several top strikers, such as Napoli’s Victor Osimhen or Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyokeres.
However, with both of those superstars potentially being out of reach for Arsenal, another inform poacher has been touted for a move to the Emirates and could prove to be a realistic alternative to Sporting’s Swedish goal machine.
Arsenal transfer news
According to a recent report from TEAMtalk, Arsenal are now interested in Bournemouth’s star striker, Dominic Solanke.
The report claims that, alongside Tottenham Hotspur, the Gunners are now keen to secure the Englishman’s services this summer.
The £70k-per-week poacher’s contract with the Cherries is set to run until June 2027, and so, according to a separate report, they are understandably holding out for a fee in the region of £65m. However, whether a club is actually willing to stump up that sort of money is another thing entirely.
While he might not be as exciting a name as Gyokeres, the former Chelsea ace has proven his ability to score goals in the Premier League and could help move the needle for Arsenal.
Why Solanke would be a great signing for Arsenal
So, the first thing to point out is that, yes, in an ideal world, Arsenal will sign Gyokeres this summer. After all, he scored a frankly ludicrous 43 goals in 50 appearances last season and provided 15 assists for good measure.
However, with reports claiming that Sporting are still after a hefty fee for his services this summer, ranging from £67m to £84m, it looks as if the Gunners aren’t going to be signing him.
That said, while Solanke wasn’t quite as prolific last year, he was still a goalscoring machine, and the fact he has already proven himself such in the Premier League shouldn’t be ignored.
In 42 appearances last season, the “outstanding” marksman, as Paul Merson dubbed him, scored 21 goals and provided four assists, meaning he averaged a goal involvement every 1.68 games.
This impressive haul would’ve made the 6 foot 2 forward the Gunners’ top goalscorer and second most productive player overall behind only Bukayo Saka, which is an incredibly impressive feat.
Moreover, while he wasn’t quite as effective the campaign prior, he still racked up 14 goal involvements in 35 games, which equates to a respectable average of one every 2.5 games.
Ultimately, while Solanke might not be the best striker around or as devastatingly effective as Gyokeres appears to be, he is still an excellent goalscorer. If he could score over 20 goals with a midtable Bournemouth side, just imagine what he could do in a title-chasing Arsenal team.
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The vastly experienced international would be an excellent signing.
Therefore, Edu and Co should do what they can to bring him to the Emirates this summer.
