Karim Benzema was linked throughout the summer to Arsenal, with the story being dragged out like a boring ‘will-they-won’t-they’ story-line between the two main characters of a drama series on TV, but he has finally ended speculation via Twitter.
In hindsight, it seems fairly obvious that with the lack of other top strikers available, Real Madrid would have never let go of their star man since they wouldn’t be able to replace him. However, at the time, Arsenal fans remained hopeful due to talk that Cristiano Ronaldo playing up front could see Benzema shunted out of the first team, which could lead to his departure. Another possibility was that Madrid would go for another forward that wasn’t a striker to fill the gap and let go of Benzema. Not the most unbelievable of situations and stranger things have happened in football. But alas, Benzema is staying at Real Madrid and Arsenal are still in need of a striker.
Unfortunately, the bad news does not stop there for the Gunners. Going after a player like Benzema and persisting on it this late meant having to pass up on players that were available previously. Jackson Martinez, Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic, Carlos Bacca and Christian Benteke are just a few of the names that were previously linked to the north London club but have joined new teams since and are now off the market.
Not signing one of the aforementioned names to go after a world-class striker that wasn’t necessarily available was a big risk, but perhaps one that Arsenal had to take. Most of the players linked were good options, but none of them that would fit into the ‘world-class’ calibre of a striker that Arsenal have been after for years. It was a risk that, unfortunately didn’t pay off , but at that time the decision was probably based on a chance that Benzema would be available and with the lack of players of that quality available, it was not a bad idea for the Gunners to try their luck instead of settling for someone else and missing out.
However by this point, after trying and failing to get that world-class striker, it is now obvious that one is not currently available and so Arsenal must settle and sign a forward even if he is not from the ‘world-class’ calibre before the transfer window ends.
To go into the season without purchasing anyone after loaning Chuba Akpom and Yaya Sanogo would mean going into the season and competing in four competitions with only Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck fully capable of playing as a striker.
Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez are as of this moment clearly not ready to fill the role, and it’s quite possible to make the same case for Danny Welbeck. While the former United man fit in well as a striker in terms of physicality and positional play, his final touch was poor and he managed to score only four goals in 25 league games, despite playing a majority of them as a striker whilst Olivier Giroud was out injured.
He was expected to be out for just a few weeks but has not yet returned to training, four months on. This raises serious questions over his fitness and whether Arsenal can rely on him as their only realistic backup for the season.
Olivier Giroud, despite his limitations, is a good striker, but Arsenal need more. That’s not to say Giroud isn’t good enough for Arsenal but to say Giroud alone isn’t enough and this has been proven in the past.
In the 2013-2014 season, Giroud helped Arsenal climb to the top of the Premier League table and stay there for a lengthy period. However, later on into the season, as the schedule became tighter, Arsenal crumbled and ended up finishing 4th. One of the main reasons of north London club’s fall was the fact that Giroud was clearly burned out, but Arsenal had no other viable option play up front instead of him.
In the 2014/2015 season, Giroud came back from injury and helped Arsenal become the team that had gained the most points in the second half of the season, but despite this Arsenal finished 3rd as they had failed to perform and out-score the opposition when Giroud was out. Of course, a lot else changed in the second half of the season such as the emergence of a Coquelin-Cazorla partnership in the heart of Arsenal’s midfield, but Giroud coming back helped the club a lot.
Chelsea on the other hand, missed Diego Costa for a massive proportion of the Premier League campaign last season but never lost their spot at the top of the league. Loic Remy filled in for Diego Costa and scored winners in tough matches against Hull City and Stoke which eventually lead to them being crowned champions comfortably ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal. Remy, a player by no means ‘world-class’, was signed for just £10.5m from QPR and proved that even such players are extremely important.
QPR’s Charlie Austin is someone that Arsenal could go after. He isn’t the first striker that would come to minds of Arsenal fans, but for £15m Arsenal could sign a proven goal-scorer. He was the fourth highest goal scorer in the Premier League last season, only bettered by Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane and Diego Costa.
As mentioned, Charlie Austin is a proven goal-scorer, hitting 18 goals in 36 games while playing for the team that finished at the bottom of the league is no easy feat, and he’s continuing his run this season after scoring four goals in four so far. With service through players such as Mesut Ozil and Santi Cazorla, Charlie Austin could exceed at Arsenal and take out Giroud from the starting XI. At worst, he would give competition to Giroud and force the Frenchman to become even better. Even as a second choice player, he would provide an option to Arsenal and allow them to rest Giroud or bring on a capable striker as a substitute.
Currently, the second choice striker at Arsenal is Theo Walcott, who despite being a fantastic winger does not look like he is ready for the striker role yet. Against teams that do not play a high line, he is ineffective as shown by games against Chelsea and most recently Liverpool. He grabbed the winning assist against Chelsea, but it was a simple pass to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain that was made most of by individual brilliance from the 22-year-old. Beyond that pass, he had only 10 touches and four passes in 65 minutes. In fact, Arsenal were defending more near the end of the game when Giroud came on but still had more chances in the 25 minutes after the substitution. Against Liverpool, Walcott came on as a sub with just under 20 minutes on the clock, and his contribution was a grand total of 4 touches. If Giroud were to get injured, Arsenal’s attack in its current state would be toothless with nobody able to fill in Giroud’s boots properly.
Yes, Charlie Austin is not a guaranteed success. There is a massive difference between the way QPR and Arsenal play, and Austin has injury concerns of his own. But a £15m risk should not be much for a club of Arsenal’s stature especially in a time where player prices are inflated massively. Even if Austin fails at Arsenal, he could always be sold to another club in the future. Of course a loss would likely be incurred, but is the risk not worth it?
With that being said, Charlie Austin is just one name. Whether Arsenal can pull off a miraculous signing of Edinson Cavani from PSG, lure some other good striker from another team, or sign Charlie Austin, one thing they must do is sign an adequate striker.
To state that Arsenal would be incapable of competing without another striker would be undermining them, but as seen in the past, Arsenal have always been one or two players away from competing properly and it would be fair to predict a similar outcome to previous seasons if the gaps in the squad aren’t filled.
Arsenal currently have a team with quality players that are near the peak of their careers and have been at the club for a while. But players such as Laurent Koscielny and Santi Cazorla are not getting any younger, and Arsenal must take advantage of their current situation instead of wasting yet another year.
