Arsenal: Where Victor Osimhen ranks among 4 other striker targets
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal will almost certainly need a new striker this summer, and with Victor Osimhen joining the extensive list, here’s where he ranks among the rumors.
This is not an easy situation for Mikel Arteta to deal with in his first year at Arsenal. While plenty of teams out there are shoring up some summer moves during this pause, Arteta isn’t able to because he has no idea what kind of financials will be at his disposal, nor does he know who he might be able to keep.
Nowhere is that better seen than at striker. Arsenal has two elite strikers in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette, but there is a high probability that they lose both of these guys over the summer and will have to replace them both.
There’s also a likelihood that they both stay and we don’t need anyone. But split the difference, we are probably going to need at least one new striker this summer to pair with Eddie Nketiah, and new names are being added pretty regularly.
The latest to join the mass is Victor Osimhen, which takes the number of links strikers to around a handful. So, with Osimhen in mind, let’s break out the rankings of our best possible striker transfer target.
We start with No. 5
5. Rodrigo Moreno
This is a textbook “we can’t get any top-tier option, so let’s get clever” solution. But guess what? It’s not a bad solution at all. While you won’t hear many people excited about signing Rodrigo Moreno, the numbers and the style of play back him up.
At 29-years-old, he’s not an investment for the long-term. He’s a stopgap solution, but you can do far worse. He is a link-up, assisting striker with more assists than goals this year. When you’re playing with the likes of Nicolas Pepe, Gabriel Martinelli, and Bukayo Saka, that is an excellent striker to have, even if he isn’t that exciting in name value alone.
Moreno is what we wanted Lacazette to be on a smaller scale. Lacazette just hasn’t been consistent, whereas Moreno has a very set style of play. And don’t think he won’t score goals too. He’s got 24 goals across the two seasons before this one.
On to No. 4.