Arsenal: Youssef En-Nesyri has nothing to do with Lacazette, Aubameyang

A striker doesn’t top Arsenal’s need list, but just because the links are there doesn’t mean that Alexandre Lacazette or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are leaving.

I don’t know how Arsenal are going to hold onto both Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang without Champions League next year, but that doesn’t mean that the latest link to Youssef En-Nesyri means that they won’t be able to.

En-Nesyri just popped up on the transfer radar, with a modest £8.8m price tag for the Leganes striker, making him a very realistic option for the Gunners to pursue.

Of course, with Eddie Nketiah chomping at the bit for more first team opportunities and Gabriel Martinelli just arriving at the club, many fans are wondering if En-Nesyri is the budget replacement for a massive sale in the striker department.

I don’t see how that would be possible, and frankly, there are a couple reasons why. For starters, Danny Welbeck left the club. And he was our midweek striker. So someone had to take his place. It is far more likely that En-Nesyri is here for that.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

Secondly, En-Nesyri is a physical striker, with aerial prowess and this provides a completely different approach than anyone the team currently has.

For the same reasons that I wanted Olivier Giroud to come home (damnit!), I now see En-Nesyri as Unai Emery’s acceptance that an aerial option is necessary. Not least of all because, of all the things that the Gunners struggle with, set-piece delivery isn’t one of them.

Especially when Granit Xhaka is in charge.

But so many of those deliveries fall by the wayside because the Gunners are a short team without a lot of aerial ability, especially from their strikers.

En-Nesyri can be that guy. But that isn’t the only guy he can be. He has plenty of ability with his feet as well, so it’s not like we are pigeon-holing him into being the Peter Crouch guy. Because that’s just silly.

Plus he’s young. 22-years-old. Plenty of room yet to grow and with such a low price tag, it’s not like there’s much to lose. We have to trust in Unai Emery at some point to get the guys that he wants to get and build the team around them.

Emery is smarter than to try to replace Lacazette or Aubameyang with a lower-half La Liga striker. It doesn’t work like that. In time, if he replaces them, well, that’s a different story.