Arsenal: £43.2m Andrea Belotti A Steep And Yet Fair Price To Pay

Andrea Belotti is reportedly priced at £42.3 million by current club Torino. While, for Arsenal, that may seem like a steep price to pay it would be fair.

Entering last summer, Arsenal were in need of a top quality striker. It was an issue that Arsene Wenger was aware needed addressing and did his best to do so. However, thanks to stylistic issues, a lack of willingness to spend big and the age old hesitancy issue, the new striker was a toy that was found a little too elusive.

Wenger confirmed that he was in the market for a centre-forward when he attempted to sign Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy, the man who had outfoxed the league to fire the Foxes to the Premier League the previous season. Vardy rejected the move thanks to concerns over whether he would suit Wenger’s slower, possession-orientated style of play.

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The search then progressed. A £29 million bid for Alexandre Lacazette was rejected. Alvaro Morata was never available due to Real Madrid exercising a buy-back clause. Karim Benzema was inaccessible thanks to the controversy in his personal life. Romelu Lukaku was never a realistic target given his price. Neither was Gonzalo Higuain or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Ultimately, Arsenal were forced to settle for Lucas Perez late in the window. The Spaniard has seen his game time limited since then, though, and it has often been Alexis Sanchez that has been shifted into a central role. While it has been a positional switch that has brought success throughout the year, the Chilean is expected to leave at the end of the year and the Gunners find themselves all the way back at the start of their search for a striker once more.

This summer, they must be more successful in their ventures.

This brings me to Torino’s Andrea Belotti. The 23-year-old exploded onto the scene with a terrific close to last season. This year, he has continued his ascension to global superstardom. In 26 Serie A appearances, he has now scored 22 goals and is the top goalscorer in Italy for the season and bettered by only Higuain for the 2016 calendar year.

Belotti is a wonderfully gifted player and is now being linked with a move away from Torino in the summer, with Arsenal touted as a possible destination. The most recent reports suggest that a fee of £43.2 million will be required to prize him away from the clutches of the Italian club.

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That may seem steep for a player who has only played well for the last 18 months. However, given his talent, his potential and the desperate need in North London, it is still a price worth paying. Whether Wenger will agree, however, is a very different question altogether.

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