The collapse of Arsenal’s title challenge over the last month has had fans and pundits of the Gunners asking what they need for next season.
Paul Merson was on Sky Sports this morning claiming it was a lack of a proper number 9 that had sunk his old team’s chances. His suggestions for what they could do to remedy that this summer were interesting – and included the idea that they could take a punt on Romelu Lukaku, the Chelsea striker currently back on loan at Inter Milan.
“Arsenal need a centre forward,’ Merson said in quotes picked up by The Metro.
‘They need someone who is going to get them 25 goals a season. I’m not having a go at Gabriel Jesus. He’s a very good player and he’s been a brilliant signing. But he’s not going to get you the goals you need on his own.
“The other day against Brighton, I don’t remember him ever looking like scoring. Jesus can play anywhere. So if you buy a striker he could still get in the team. He could play with a striker. Arsenal’s squad is bare. It wasn’t strong enough to win the league. They need to buy players. Top quality players.
“Manchester City are head and shoulders above everybody. So you need to get stronger just to compete.
“Ivan Toney would have suited Arsenal, but that won’t happen now because of his ban.
“Romelu Lukaku might be available. The 30-year-old is an out-and-out centre-forward. He will stay up front and back into players. That might help Arsenal.”
Lukaku has scored 6 goals in the last 6 games for Inter, finishing the season about as strongly as possible for the Italian side as they battled to a Champions League final, as well as sneaking in to the top 3 places in Serie A over the weekend.
Hopefully this spurt of good form right at the year’s end will convince more people than just Paul Merson that Lukaku is a viable option for them this summer. Perhaps our situation is not as hopeless as we had feared.
