While the Premier League’s elite have been spending money by the bucketload – Liverpool and Manchester City, we’re looking at you – Arsenal have been idle.
Should we be surprised? Not really. Over the last two transfer windows, the Gunners have failed to improve their forward line and efforts to finally sign a striker so far this summer have been fruitless.
Two names dominate the headlines with Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyokeres at the forefront of their minds. The trouble is, both deals look complicated.
Reports from Sky Germany suggest that Arsenal are unwilling to pay RB Leipzig’s asking price for Sesko, while it was claimed in Portugal a few days ago that they have paused their efforts to sign Gyokeres, instead looking at Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins.
Signing a new centre forward isn’t the only thing on the agenda for Andrea Berta this summer.
Arsenal’s hunt for a new winger
Due to a number of factors, chiefly Bukayo Saka’s workload and the inconsistent form of Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli, Arsenal need a new winger this summer.
Unfortunately, it now looks as though it’s unlikely that’ll be Athletic Bilbao’s Spanish sensation, Nico Williams.
The north Londoners have been interested in the 22-year-old for over a year now but the wide attacker is prioritising a move to Barcelona, his dream club, instead.
As a consequence, interested parties in the form of Arsenal and Chelsea have ‘cooled’ their interest in the words of The Athletic’s David Ornstein.
With that blow fresh in the mind, it looks as though Arsenal have been ramping up their efforts to sign Real Madrid star, Rodrygo.
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That’s according to journalist Ben Jacobs, who took to social media on Tuesday afternoon to reveal that Mikel Arteta and Co have a ‘genuine interest’ in the Brazilian.
Exploratory talks dating back to May have already been held with the player’s representatives but it will take a fee of around £77m to convince the Spanish giants to sell.
Madrid have a new manager in the shape of Xavi Alonso and it appears as though the former midfielder isn’t too keen on Rodrygo. Consequently, Arsenal should do all they can to convince the player to jump ship.
How Rodrygo compares to Nico Williams
Williams has swiftly been thrust into the limelight over the last year when aged just 21, he was one of the players of the tournament at Euro 2024 as his nation won the title.
The left winger was fabulous throughout, most notably scoring the opening goal in the final against England.
Since then, however, he’s failed to truly kick on, even if the frightening potential still lurks within.
Williams has never been a rampant goalscorer, finding the net on just five occasions in the league this season.
Rodrygo, on the other hand, would be capable of offering Arteta the added goals he needs his side to produce if they are to challenge for the title and Champions League.
Last season, Martinelli and Trossard managed to score just 16 goals between them in the 73 Premier League matches they featured in. Well, in his own last 73 LaLiga matches, Rodrygo has a better record than both players combined, scoring 20 times.
While 2024/25 wasn’t his best campaign, shoved out on the right-hand side to accommodate Vinicius Jr and Kylian Mbappe, this is a player who is far more comfortable in front of goal than someone like Martinelli, and crucially, Williams too.
You only have to cast your minds back to 2022/23 when the Brazil superstar found the net 19 times, bettering Martinelli’s best season haul of 15, which coincidentally came in the same campaign.
Another string to Rodrygo’s bow is not just his versatility – able to play up front or on either flank – but his creativity.
Games
159
141
141
125
Goals
50
33
35
28
Assists
30
18
26
29
Goals per game
0.31
0.23
0.24
0.22
G/A per game
0.42
0.36
0.43
0.45
Analysing the data, Williams is also a particularly creative individual, thriving in that area more than his goalscoring.
However, Arsenal are still proficient creators of chances. What they need is someone capable of sticking the ball in the back of the net and Rodrygo has done that on a far more regular basis in all competitions since 2022 than Martinelli, Trossard and Williams.
Last term, no player in red and white reached double figures for goals. Kai Havertz was their top scorer with 15 and they ended the campaign with Mikel Merino playing as a makeshift striker.
On that evidence, Arsenal need a centre-forward, but they also need more contributions from elsewhere on the pitch. Madrid’s “world-class superstar”, as he’d been described by teammate Luka Modric, would certainly help in that regard.
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