Arsenal’s summer signing of Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City has quickly turned out to have been a very positive one, as the striker has scored five goals and provided four assists in his first 11 appearances for the club.
Despite this, recent reports have linked the Gunners with a January transfer move for Porto striker Mehdi Taremi.
With 296 club appearances to his name across his career, the 30-year-old has found the net 148 times and delivered 77 assists in the process.
In 12 appearances across all competitions this season, the Iranian has scored seven goals and supplied seven assists, highlighting the clear attacking talent he has and has shown throughout his playing career.
His performances in the nine league games he’s played him have earned the striker an overall rating of 7.71/10 from WhoScored, making him the highest-rated player at Porto.
This rating is very close to the rating that Jesus has earned himself in the league this season (7.73/10), which has put him as Arsenal’s highest-rated player.
With the two strikers having the same rate of goals per shot (0.17) this season, this highlights how much of a strong partnership they could create in Mikel Arteta’s side.
Also, Taremi’s age and experience could make him a useful attacking figure for Jesus to play with and learn from, as well as make Arsenal a deadlier attacking side.
Praised by Rio Ferdinand for a “ridiculous” overhead kick goal he scored in the Champions League against Chelsea last season, Taremi certainly has the attacking credentials to be a useful addition to Arteta’s ranks.
Moving forward, while it would be understandable if Porto would be keen to keep hold of him, if an opportunity to sign the striker arises in the upcoming January transfer window, this is definitely something that Arsenal should look to explore.
