Arsenal: Assessing life at striker after Alexandre Lacazette

Arsenal certainly need a new striker this summer, but if it isn’t going to be Alexandre Lacazette, then let’s just get him off of the table.

Arsenal always seemed destined to land Alexandre Lacazette, but the French striker has all but agreed to join Atletico Madrid in a move that shouldn’t come as too much of a shock. He said himself that he was looking for Champions League football. hard to fault him for that.

That being the case, it’s time to get on with it, for Arsenal. For awhile here, we have been nearly banking on Lacazette being the solution. He seemed like the best option, mainly because it felt like such a realistic option.

But it isn’t happening. The most obvious go-to for who to turn to next is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Dortmund striker has made it plenty obvious that he is leaving, but the problem there is that he too probably won’t be looking for anything without Champions League. That is, unless the Gunners are willing to pay him bookoo bucks, which is always a major doubt.

There just aren’t that many quality options out there that can be swayed for a realistic price without Champions League football.

I do think that Wenger has some tricks up his sleeve yet; that he might be able to sway a game-changing striker into coming to Arsenal. But there is always the risk he cannot, and if that be the case, we need to start thinking about other options. Rotating Danny Welbeck and Olivier Giroud is a placeholder for something bigger. It has to be.

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So let’s talk internal – what options do we have? Both Chuba Akpom and Donyell Malen should be on the first team precipice this summer. I would hate to see Wenger not land a striker this summer, but if you think about it, Manchester United turned up Marcus Rashford as a youth product and he ended up being every bit of a solution to them.

If Akpom can put it together or if Malen can make his maiden voyage into the Premier League a success, then everybody wins, even Stan Kroenke.

Other than that, we can think of two other options – either moving Alexis Sanchez back to striker or convincing Lucas Perez to stay in London for more than just Harry Potter world.

The Alexis Sanchez option should be very appealing because of how successful he was there in the 4-2-3-1. All the Gunners would then have to do is find a creative, consistent presence to take Alexis’s midfield role.

And it’s not like the Chilean can’t still be a creative force as well. That front three is very interchangeable, as we have seen. We just need someone up front who can score consistently.

Lucas is a solid option too though. A front three of Lucas, Alexis and Mesut Ozil is damn strong and absolutely worth exploring.

Next: Arsenal's Potential Starting XI Under Max Allegri

We need a striker, very badly. Even if that means just another ‘option’ to rotate in and out. Missing the Champions League isn’t going to kill us.

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