With Aubmeyang’s recent exclusion from the squad, as well as the contracts of Lacazette and Nketiah soon to expire there is perhaps no bigger pressing need to address in the Arsenal squad than the Center Forward position. But what kind of CF do we need? Judging by our current targets as well as watching the team on a weekly basis I believe the answer is somewhat clear.
What the squad needs is a linkman who will contribute to creating goals while also begin able to finish chances himself. Someone who could help out our other forwards and make something on his own, as well as finish chances his teammates give him. We’ve heard of Vlahovic and Isak and David. Instead, Here’s a few more unorthodox options we could look at for CF:
Amine Gouiri (21) – Ligue 1
The 21 year old has progressed well in France and enjoyed life under famed Ligue 1 manager Christophe Galtier, netting 8 times in 1400 minutes and assisting another 4. He has proved to be able to contribute link-up play by dropping deep or even affect the game from out wide while being deployed on the left of a 4-4-2
Gouiri can and often has frustrated spectators this season, with 8 non penalty goals from 20 shots on target. This number works out to be 0.29 goals per shot on target every 90 mins . Compared to the club’s other target Vlahovic emerges with 0.47 meaning nearly every other shot on target is a goal for Dusan. This can be seen as simply the data being slightly construed considering Gouiri’s aforementioned number of appearances out wide although curiously that number remains exactly the same when compared to other wingers in Europe and not just forwards.
His passing is a highlight with 1.9 key passes p/90, almost double the average among forwards across Europe’s t5 leagues. He makes 4.28 shot creating actions every 90 minutes. He completes 1.15 dribbles and 6.78 progressive carries p/90 as well. If Arsenal are looking for a forward who can contribute outside of goal scoring, there a few better young forwards for that than Amine Gouiri
Gouiri is underwhelming in the air however. Being 180cm tall (5’11) he averages 0.5 aerials won and 0.94 aerials lost p/90. Questions will also arise as to wether Amine can lead the line on his own. For Nice he is deployed either out wide left or in a 2 up top and while he would certainly be in fine company with the rest of Arsenal’s front line it is yet to be seen as to wether Gouiri is the man to take on the main responsibilities up front.
Yuri Alberto (20) – Brasiliero Serie A
Probably the rawest and least refined name on this list, Yuri has put up two decent seasons in Brazil accumulating 22 goals and 5 assists in 56 apps (none of those come from penalty kicks). He averages 0.6 g+a p/90. 1.51 shots on target and 0.33 goals for every shot on target he takes. In raw numbers that’s 22 goals from 67 shots on target from 139 shots total.
He has 71% pass accuracy from roughly 20 passes. He created 0.8 key passes p/90 and has completed 0 successful through balls this last season. This can be seen as symptoms of the system however, with Alberto’s role for Internacional being to find himself on the end of chances rather than dropping deep to link play.
Yuri is very good striker from range as well and is adept at preforming successful layoffs for his teammates. However his defensive contribution is lacking and he is perhaps at the minute more fitted to a team which relies on fast breaks and transitions.
Like I said, he’s raw and unrefined but the talent is clearly there and at only 20 years old he’s malleable. Many forwards have come out before and spoken about how helpful Arteta is in developing them and perhaps Yuri could be next in that list
Sasa Kalajdzic (24) – Bundesliga
After rising to slight prominence at Euro 2021 lady luck has not smiled on Sasa whatsoever. Not only having to deal with covid since then but also suffering a horrific shoulder dislocation back in August which set him out for the rest of 2021
before these these setbacks however, Kalajdzic (pronounced kal-eye-jich) put up some very impressive performances from CF in the season prior, so I will be looking those numbers in order to paint a picture of the player who will hopefully return firing soon.
With 16 goals and 6 assists in 33 Bundesliga games Sasa averaged 0.65 npg p/90 from an xG 0.38. Every other shot on target for Sasa is a goal with 0.5 goals/shot on target.
Kalajdzic completes 0.12 through balls successfully as well as 0.77 key passes per 90 minutes (above Isak’s 0.55, practically identical to Vlahovic’s 0.76 and below David’s 1). He averages 2.23 shot creating actions and 0.4 goal creating actions p/90
Decent with both feet, (right predominantly) Sasa is a bit of a physical phenom. He’s 2m tall winning 56% of his aerial duels, that’s roughly 4 p/90. He’s not the most adept ball carrier though. Averaging 3 misconstrues a game alongside completing only 50% of his dribbles (1 from 2 attempted p/90) and he’s not the biggest fan of dropping deep.
Obviously, these are not the only alternatives to the names we are hearing constantly. There is no doubt in my mind that somewhere out there in an overlooked striker who is itching at his chance for the big leagues. I simply wanted to highlight several players which have caught my curiosity.
Whoever is chosen to lead the new front line we can be rest assured Arteta and his colleagues will have picked someone in absolute faith and certainty of their quality
