Well, if Arsenal didn’t already need a new striker, one look at their first six fixtures of the new Premier League season tells you they certainly do.
Andrea Berta has replaced Edu and he’d been completing negotiations on a number of targets but now is the time to strike and ensure the Gunners are ready to hit the ground running once the campaign commences in August.
17th Aug
Manchester United (A)
23rd Aug
Leeds United (H)
30th Aug
Liverpool (A)
13th Sept
Nottingham Forest (H)
20th Sept
Manchester City (H)
27th Sept
Newcastle United (A)
Truth be told, Mikel Arteta and Co couldn’t have been handed a much tougher start with away fixtures at United, Liverpool and Newcastle, while having to play newly-promoted Leeds and title rivals Man City.
So, this squad needs to be ready. It needs extra firepower. But, the age-old question, who will they sign?
The latest on Arsenal's striker hunt
Viktor Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko are the two names that feature most prominently on Arsenal’s summer wish list but both deals, at the moment, look complicated.
Gyokeres – the scorer of an enormous 54 goals in 2024/25 – is likely to leave Sporting but Portuguese reports revealed earlier this week that Arsenal have so far yet to meet the Lisbon club’s demands. As a result, they’ve put their pursuit of the Swede on hold.
That means that Sesko has become the number one target again. One report comes from journalist Graeme Bailey who now insists that ‘Sesko is still the furthest along in terms of a deal being done’.
That said, if a deal cannot be agreed, Bailey reveals that ‘it wouldn’t take an awful lot for Arsenal to divert’ their attention elsewhere.
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Gyokeres is name-dropped, while Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike are also on the shortlist.
While Arsenal tried and failed to sign Watkins last January, Ekitike isn’t a name we’ve heard mentioned too often in Arsenal circles. Up to now, the race has been between Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.
What Ekitike could bring to Arsenal
Arsenal need goals. In 2024/25, no player recorded double figures in the Premier League. Kai Havertz was the top scorer with just 15 – albeit with the caveat that he missed several months through injury – and Mikel Merino ended the campaign as the centre-forward.
To Merino’s credit, he did a fine job, scoring six goals in 12 games. Obviously, that wasn’t enough to help them reach the Champions League final and it served as evidence that the Gunners need a new striker. No ifs, no buts, no maybes, they simply have to sign one.
So, if it’s goals Arsenal require then surely Gyokeres must be the number one option? He scored more than any other player in Europe’s top leagues over the last season and is a rampant finisher. He’s even got experience of English football having played for Brighton and Coventry.
However, there have been doubts, some red flags, so to speak. Had the powerful Swede scored that many goals in a top-five league, you doubt there’d be question marks. However, he did it in the Portuguese top-flight.
We’re not trying to dismiss the quality of the division here but it does pale in comparison to the Premier League or LaLiga for instance.
Then you have the traits Gyokeres could bring. Competent in front of goal, of course, but as data analyst Ben Mattinson outlines, the Swede has a “heavy first touch” and “doesn’t anticipate contact or shield the ball well.”
So, is there a player out there with a better all-around package? In that regard, Ekitike’s your man.
Cast out by PSG despite being heralded as the “next Kylian Mbappe” in some quarters, he departed Paris having played just 33 games, scoring four goals in the French capital.
Luis Enrique and Co are unlikely to lose much sleep given their recent Champions League heroics, but the 22-year-old has become something of a phenomenon in the Bundesliga for Frankfurt.
The Frenchman ended 2024/25 with 22 goals and 12 assists to his name. Not mindblowing numbers, sure, but his electric play is seriously pleasing on the eye.
What should fill Arsenal fans with excitement is regular comparisons to their all-time leading goalscorer. Scout Jacek Kulig has suggested that his most similar player is the great Thierry Henry, while one PSG content creator went as far as to claim he is “the new Henry.” Fine praise indeed.
So, what makes them alike? Well, the goal below tells you all you need to know.
The similarities between Henry and Ekitike here are scary. He’s got the same languid but smooth and powerful running style, brushing defenders aside with ease and then sliding the ball home.
His movement is first class, he’s a phenomenal dribbler and unlike Gyokeres, there’s less chaos to his running style and first touch. Everything feels a bit neater and tidier in that regard.
Let’s throw another bonus in there for you. One of Ekitike’s most similar players in Europe’s top five leagues over the last year, according to FBRef, is Alexander Isak.
Now, we all know how much Arteta rates the Swede and for a fraction of the price, they could sign a player with the potential to be just as good.
Gyokeres might be the best goalscorer on the planet right now but doubts surrounding his playstyle continue to linger. Ekitike is a proper on the last shoulder of the defender striker, someone with pace, power and a Henry-likeness to boot. Arsenal should be all over this move.
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