Arsenal: 5 summer transfer goals and current targets

With 13 matches left of the season to play, fans are starting to look ahead. So too is the club. Arsenal have Champions League football in their sights along with the players they want guide them through it.

Winning eight of the previous ten matches has put Mikel Arteta’s side in a strong position to return to a competition that hasn’t graced the Emirates turf since 2017. Their last taste of Europe’s elite came on March 7 of that year, a 5-1 home defeat to Bayern Munch to wrap up a 10-2 aggregate loss in the round of 16.

So much still stands in their way. With their thin squad there are some injuries that could derail their goals, while the inconsistencies that come with having such a young group may well be felt before May 22.

Right now consistency is, however, Arsenal’s strength. While their rivals are dropping points at (in)opportune moments, the Gunners have secured 25 points from the previous 30 available and sit in the top four with games in hand on all of the chasing pack.

Arsenal: The 5 summer transfers goals for Edu and Mikel Arteta as well as their current targets to fill those five positions

Beating Watford 3-2 with some dazzling attacking play, the gaps, if you will, in the starting lineup remain clear and are there to be filled.

It’s no secret that centre-forward and midfield are high on the list of priorities for the summer. Securing a top four berth not only boosts the transfer kitty, it also widens the net Arsenal can cast across Europe to secure the finest talent.

But with a squad of only 20 senior players, if this team is to return to European competition of any kind it will need depth across the team.

As per the Evening Standard, and reported elsewhere in the UK media, Arteta and co are preparing for no fewer than five positions to be bolstered over the coming transfer period, with the club also boasting current targets for those very slots as their summer goals are laid out.

Here they are.

1. Two Strikers

Known targets: Alexander Isak, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Jonathan David, Darwin Nunez, Armando Broja

Expected departures: Eddie Nketiah, Alexandre Lacazette, Folarin Balogun (another loan)

With nine goal involvements in his last ten Premier League outings, what Alexandre Lacazette is producing has been integral to the Gunners’ fine form across the winter period.

It may be that the Frenchman doesn’t score another goal for the rest of the campaign and Arsenal still secure top four. That’s a remarkable concept to ponder, with the No. 9 in any team someone who has to chip in himself, but the assists and the platform he provides for others is, at present, helping put points on the board.

Nonetheless, he and Eddie Nketiah are still due to depart in the summer when their respective contracts expire.

Still in need of another loan move to further his development, Folarin Balogun won’t be the solution at the top. Therefore, two strikers are on the agenda for Arsenal. Having yet to sign one during his time at the club, it’s exciting to see who Arteta goes for.

The trio of Isak, Calvert-Lewin and David remain on the list, with Benfica’s bruising striker Darwin Nunez joining them alongside Chelsea’s academy product Armando Broja.

It’s ‘unlikely’ that the Blues will do business over Broja when his loan at Southampton runs out, while Nunez was the subject of a failed £40m bid from West Ham in January. The Uruguayan has been in sparkling form this season, netting 25 goals in 31 Primeira Liga and Champions League outings.

One of the elite calibre and one to develop seems the likely course of action.

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