Deadwood Upfront

"We have no strikers"

Despite this epiphat becoming a popular cliche in the media (and in a lot of fan's minds, the bittersweet reality of it is we have do happen to have quite a few strikers in our squad. That's the sweet part. The bitter part is not one of them are of top, top, top, top, top,  top,  top, top, top, top, top, top, top, top, top, top, top, top, top quality (some are lucky to even be apart of the club) It is clear that a spring clean is necessary. Here is what we have

Name: Olivier Giroud
Goals this season: 12 league, 16 altogether
Bought in: 2012
Price: £12 million
Wage p/week: £60,000

Name: Nicklas Bendtner
Goals this season: 2
Bought in: Youth player
Price: Youth player
Wage p/week: £52,000

Name: Yaya Sanogo
Goals this season: 0
Bought in: 2013
Price: Free agent
Wage p/week: £20,000

Name: Park Chu-Young
Goals this season: 0 for Arsenal, 0 on loan
Bought in: 2011
Price: £5 million
Wage p/week: £50,500

Name: Joel Campbell
Goals this season: 0 For Arsenal, 7 on loan
Bought in: 2011
Price: £880,000/£900,000
Wage p/week: £18,750

Name: Benik Afobe
Goals this season: 0 for Arsenal, 1 on loan
Bought in: Youth player
Price: Youth player
Wage p/week: £1000

Name: Chuba Akpom
Goals this season: 0 for Arsenal, 0 on loan
Bought in: Youth player
Price: Youth player
Wage p/week: £750

Ideally, these players play nowhere else but upfront, unlike players like Podolski and Walcott who can play out wide effectively, hence why I haven't included them in the list. All figures are approximations from what sources I could find online and are more or less accurate. If anyone sees any mistakes in wages, transfer fee etc, let me know and I'll correct them

So, the big question is who gets promoted, who stays and who goes?

Bendtner and park:Release/finally off the wage bill  

Joel and Afobe:possibly sell/dont think either will make it/good luck to them

Yaya :3rd choice or loan

Chubz: another loan/Good Lad

Giroud: 2nd choice or sell him if any decent offer comes  

2 new strikers/possibly one who can play wide as well In

 

Time to brush off our youth products, I don't think any of them could make it aside from Sanogo. They have been here for so long, they would make it already at the similar age to Jack and Aron.

Sell: Bendtner, Park, Joel, Afobe ( has been hyped since 2010 together with Aneke & JET, where is him now btw? )

Loan: Chuba & Yaya.

So that left only Giroud and the need to purchase 2 more strikers. Girould won't start for France so chance to sell him off is slim, maybe he could move to some 2nd tier team like Valencia, Seville, Fiorentina etc.

- Diego Costa (no matter what everyone says, we have to give it a try)
- Giuseppe Rossi ( risky one)
- Jackson Martinez
- Balo/SES
- Draxler

Other targets I would say we have no chance.

Sign Angel Correa, Alex Lacazette

Sell/Let Go Bendtner,Park,Afobe,Giroud, Chuba. Campbell (only if we re sign RVP)

Loan out Sanogo,

Plus after getting, Lars Bender, Draxler and RVP Back well will be super strong for next season.

Giroud is fine.

Bendtner would have been an incredible player in the right club, too bad Arsenal did not get the best out of him.

To actually improve Arsenal's striker depth, I feel we would need a good "decision making" striker with good movement, that would have been Suarez or Aguero.

Sign Draxler, Balo and Costa.  
 
Get rid of Giroud, Park, and as much as I hate to say it Podolski is done at Arsenal, Wenger has no faith in him, even though he is the best finisher he has ever seen.  

Thanks for composing this list, Lex.

I don't have my mind set on any one scenario this summer, I think there are a number of strategies Arsenal can take that could end up working well. Lots of variables.

Giroud is going nowhere this summer, and I'm happy with that. I think he's a good option to have. But frankly I want to see someone come in who is a clearly superior striker - a guy who is more clinical than Giroud, more explosive and ideally even able to play on the flanks or as a SS if needed. And also somebody who isn't raw - 23+ years old ideally. Some players who fit most or all of these conditions: Jackson Martinez, Douglas Costa, Mario Balotelli, and Loic Remy. (Remy would be underwhelming as a signing but not a bad option in certain scenarios.)

Ignoring wingers / wide players, another signing I'd like to see is maybe to pick up a good young player, maybe one of these South Americans getting labelled "the next Kun Aguero" or whatever. I only know someone like Angel Correa from YouTube and what people write about him on the Internet, but a guy in that mold would be exciting - someone impactful, hungry, and with incredible dribbling & determination. Somebody who could compete with Sanogo as promising young first team back-ups.

Bendtner and Park have no future with us, so they'll both be released in the summer. Likewise, Benik Afobe probably doesn't have a future at Arsenal and will likely move on in the summer as well.

Sanogo needs some consistent game time somewhere to make up for the time he missed through injury. A loan would benefit Akpom as well. That we have Sanogo, Akpom and even Hinds coming through the academy means we don't really need another young striker unless they're ready to make an immediate impact on the first team.

Campbell is an interesting one since he's more of a wide player than a centre forward, so would likely be more of a replacement for Podolski if anything. I don't see his future with us as a striker, in any case.

Giroud simply becomes 2nd choice striker to whichever striker we bring in the summer.

Sign 1 striker, have Giroud as backup, Sanogo either loaned or 3rd choice and if he is loaned, Poldi/Theo/Campbell can be 3rd choice. I think that Campbell should be given a spot in the team due to his versatility, however other than him, every other striker listed will likely be offloaded.

Giroud is almost never injured so I don't see the need to sign 2 strikers, especially since doing so would further restrict Sanogo in the long-run and it doesn't really make us better if the 2nd signing isn't even starting XI quality.

So in short, buy 1 striker and we're basically missing nothing and fully stocked. Ahh man, we're always so close but so far eh

Eman wrote:Sign 1 striker, have Giroud as backup, Sanogo either loaned or 3rd choice and if he is loaned, Poldi/Theo/Campbell can be 3rd choice. I think that Campbell should be given a spot in the team due to his versatility, however other than him, every other striker listed will likely be offloaded.

Giroud is almost never injured so I don't see the need to sign 2 strikers, especially since doing so would further restrict Sanogo in the long-run and it doesn't really make us better if the 2nd signing isn't even starting XI quality.

So in short, buy 1 striker and we're basically missing nothing and fully stocked. Ahh man, we're always so close but so far eh

This has ben the problem for years. By the time we get a great striker Sagna would have left, Mertemight have become older ,Arteta would be way too old ...
Wish i'm wrong.

Id rather keep Sanogo as 2nd choice striker (he has more potential) than Giroud.

Considering the lack of World class strikers available, we will probably end up with someone like Remy ( More deadwood)