With Robin Van Persie edging ever closer to the door at the Emirates, after confirming that he has no intention of signing a new contract at the club – and thus effectively holding the club to a £25m ransom to let him leave this summer before his current deal runs out next year – the time has come for Arsene Wenger to start seriously considering replacements for the Dutchman.
With that £25m or so set to bolster his transfer war-chest, Wenger may look to make one eye-catching signing to fill the talismanic frontman’s position for the coming season, or he might choose to invest only a portion of it in a striker, relying on the incoming influence of new striking pair Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski. That second option would at least allow the manager to rebuild other key areas of the team, after a relatively disappointing 2011/12 season (by the high standards of Arsenal fans).
But Giroud and Podolski might not be enough for Wenger, and he may well look to bring in another striker to plug the gap left by Van Persie – and if he does, we have ten suggestions of players he could bring in…
1. Stevan Jovetic
- Club: Fiorentina
- Value: £25m
Arsenal have recently been linked with Fiorentina’s highly-rated Montenegrin striker Jovetic, who caught the eye last season with 14 goals in 27 Serie A appearances, and some exciting attacking performances that would make him an ideal addition to the Arsenal squad.
If Arsene Wenger wants to bring the striker to Arsenal, he will need to move for the Montenegrin soon, with a host of clubs said to be interested in making a move, and with Jovetic said to have a £25m release clause in his Fiorentina contract, which would attract the richer clubs to his availability. But if he could be convinced to join up with the Emirates squad, he might just be the ideal solution to the huge hole left by Van Persie’s impending departure, with zero capital outlay needed to secure his services.
Wenger would likely face competition from Spurs, who have also been linked with a big-money move for the player, who Andre Villas-Boas sees as the next step to rebuilding his newly acquired squad for another assault on European qualification.
30 Sexiest WAGs Of 2012
50 Sexiest Women You’ve Probably Never Heard Of
10 Most Paused Movie Moments
Football’s Worst Ever Cheating Divers
10 Great Footballers Who Made Terrible Managers
100 Greatest Premier League Players Of All Time
50 Great Footballers Who Ruled 2012
15 Worst Ever Premier League Signings
Want to become the official WhatCulture blogger for your football favourite team? Click here to get started.
7 Comments
Andy Carroll to Arsenal? The writer of this article just lost all credibility.
Really? Between August and December 2010 Arsene Wenger was one of the most vocal fans of Andy Carroll to such an extent that he was linked with a move before Liverpool made their own.
I can qualify my opinions – can you? Try and do so without calling Carroll “rubbish” or something similar.
I don’t think voicing admiration for a player means they want to sign them, and being “linked” certainly doesn’t, 80% of the players clubs are linked with, they have no interest in at all so your comment is invalid.
Giroud isn’t ‘pacy’, he’s a target man over 6 ft
messi is the only player
It would be great to see Ganson in the side-but that’s a bit pie in the sky isn’t it? I can’t see Wenger spending that amount on any player, and I’m not sure what the attraction for Ganson would be?
i thing is not easy to get the on can be like persi