Arsenal: Don’t think too hard about replacing Danny Welbeck

Arsenal are bidding adieu to Danny Welbeck, which vacates a rather important position, so what happens next? Eddie Nketiah or replacement?

There’s going to be a lot of movement this summer, and while Danny Welbeck is not a big time loss for Arsenal, he is a loss, and as the law of nature suggests, all losses must be replaced. (That is a law of nature, right?).

Unlike Aaron Ramsey, who requires a serious replacement, Danny Welbeck‘s can be a bit more… creative. Or maybe even… nonexistent?

Welbeck suffered a season ending injury that prevented him, yet again, from being the valuable member of our squad that he has been in years past. I wouldn’t say that we missed him, though. Simply because Unai Emery did a tremendous job balancing the use of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Whether he used one or both of them in any given starting XI, we didn’t often feel the nagging sensation of needing a third option.

If anything, I wanted a variable option that would provide something different, but that was only in the rare moments that Lacazette and Aubameyang weren’t exceptional which, again, was rare in the big picture. They were tremendous year round.

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But that doesn’t necessarily excuse the need for a third option. I have loved the idea of bringing Olivier Giroud back home, and there have been the odd links to spending actual money on a third striker, just to provide some variety in desperate situations, as well as someone who can keep us gunning in the midweek competitions so we can focus on them all pretty equally.

Spending money on it is a bit of a problem though, seeing as how money is already so hard to come by. So then we have to consider the final option – that we don’t replace him. That we trust in Eddie Nketiah to be our stopgap.

He looked great against Burnley, but hasn’t had much opportunity on the season as a whole. So while desperation option may yet suit him well, midweek may not.

Which brings me back to the economical option – Olivier Giroud. Someone who loves the club and someone who we know wants to be here. As of writing, he hasn’t extended with Chelsea, and he has little reason to, but would he find it any better back at Arsenal? Selfishly, I’ll go ahead and answer that as ‘yes.’

All in all, I’d hope that there is no plan to spend money on a third striker. Bring back Giroud or hand it off to Nketiah. One or the other.