It seems that Mikel Arteta could be looking for more experience to spearhead his attack ahead of next year, rather than taking the risk by signing a young player to score the team’s goals.
According to Italian outlet Calciomercato, Arsenal have added Lautaro Martinez to their shortlist of summer of striking options, as Arteta plots his new-look strike force.
The Gunners were reportedly interested in signing him last season, but he opted to sign a new contract at his current club Inter Milan.
Since then, Arsenal have been linked to strikers such as Alexander Isak and Jonathan David, who are under the age of 23, however, Arteta could be looking in the direction of a more experienced centre forward.
Despite 24 still being. younger age for a striker, Martinez is still very experienced having scored 11 goals in 22 Serie A games for Inter this season, and 61 goals in 164 games for the club overall.
His scoring exploits has been carried over to the Argentina national team as he has scored 19 goals in 37 caps and played a major part in their Copa America win in the summer.
Arsenal will be in desperate need of a striker in the summer, as Alexandre Lacazette could be set to leave the club at the of the season due to his contract expiring at the end of this campaign.
If he does depart from the club then Arsenal could be left with just one recognised striker in the form of Folarin Balogun. Nketiah’s contract is also set to expire at the end of the season and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s move to Barcelona means that Edu would have offloaded three forwards within the space of six months.
This could be why Arteta is looking to bring the experience of Martinez, as a striker who comes in will need to hit the ground running, and with Isak and David being inexperienced they could need more time to settle in.
Isak is equipped with bags of potential and will without a doubt be one of the best strikers in football over upcoming years, but he is still yet to justify such a high price tag, with his release clause being around £75m.
He currently plays for Real Sociedad and has scored 40 goals in 110 appearances for the La Liga side, and has certainly shown promise but it would risky to bring him in seeing for such a high price, seeing as though he is yet to experience Champions League football or compete for the biggest trophies.
David has played Champions League football this season, but he is still only 21, which means putting pressure on him to lead the line could prove to come too soon.
Arsenal will need two strikers at the end of the season if Lacazette does depart from the club, so Martinez alongside David, who is only quoted at costing around £47m would certainly make sense.
In this campaign, David already has 12 goals in Ligue 1 which is the highest in a league that boasts the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi, so it would be an opportunity missed if Arsenal didn’t secure his signature.
However, Arteta shortlisting Martinez is certainly justified due to the experience the Argentinian international can inject, compared to the other striker transfer targets.
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