The transfer window has closed and you would have had to have been living under a rock not to notice that Arsenal didn't sign a striker.
The reasoning behind this certainly wasn't that they didn't need one. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's departure to Barcelona the Gunners' main centre forward options are now Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah who, between them, have just three Premier League goals this season.
Instead it seems that Edu was not confident that value for money was out there in what is always a very complicated January market.
As a result attentions have now turned to the summer, with YouTube compilation makers going into overdrive hyping the likes of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Alexander Isak. One player though, who always gets mentioned among this list of Arsenal striking targets, but never seems to get the same level of attention as his contemporaries, is Jonathan David.
The 22-year-old scored again on Wednesday night as Canada secured a crucial win over El Salvador, prompting a humorously enthusiastic reaction from Alphonso Davies.
At club level his form this campaign has also caught the eye. With 12 goals in Ligue 1 this season he has outscored all of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi.
football.london understands that Edu held meetings with the player's representatives in December, and it is easy to see why the Gunners are interested.
While his numbers are good this year, what is most impressive about David is the work he does away from being a typical number nine.
Playing in a front two with veteran forward Burak Yilmaz at the Stade Pierre Mauroy this season, the Canadian's role has been to drop deep and facilitate the play in a manner similar to what Mikel Arteta has asked Alexandre Lacazette to do recently.
He is also a fantastic presser, ranking in the 91st percentile among forwards in Europe's top five leagues for pressures per 90 (19.96 as per fbRef).
On paper these seem to make a move for David in the summer a no-brainer, but there are still aspects to his game that would make signing him a risk.
As mentioned, he plays in a different formation with Lille that accentuates the more facilitative parts of his game in a manner that may be trickier to replicate with Arsenal's 4-2-3-1 set up.
The 22-year-old may also be considered a little lightweight for the Premier League and when it comes to having the physical presence to take advantage of the consistently excellent delivery provided by Kieran Tierney he is somewhat lacking.
Above all though it is the transfer fee David would command that makes him far from a surefire investment.
Having joined Lille from Genk for just shy of £25 million in 2020 (as per transfermarkt), the Canadian is unlikely to be available on the cheap.
Les Dogues have already shown themselves to be shrewd operators in the transfer market having obtained £72 million for Nicolas Pepe, and the likelihood is that they'll be looking for a similar price this time around.
While the Gunners have freed up funds by getting the sizeable salaries of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Sead Kolasinac and Calum Chambers off the wage bill, such a transfer would surely make the Canadian Arsenal's starting number nine next season.
With this in mind they may be tempted to look to a tried and tested source for a cheaper alternative.
Hale End has been incredibly useful for the Gunners in recent seasons producing the likes of Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe for the first team, and it appears that Folarin Balogun could be the next off the conveyor belt.
The 20-year-old found senior game time hard to come by in the early part of this season, but shone for Kevin Besty's under-23 side, and is now on loan at Middlesbrough for the remainder of the campaign.
Early indications at the Riverside have demonstrated that he could indeed possess the capabilities required to be a linking striker similar to David.
This was on full display during the England under-21 international's match winning assist in Boro's 1-0 win over Coventry at the weekend.
As seen in the picture below, the 20-year-old (in the top part of the still slightly to the right) drops deep in the build up to obtain the ball.
He then drives into the box to square for Andraz Sporar who turns home.
Of course, Balogun is raw and yet to consistently establish himself at senior level, but this kind of unselfish play is exactly why Arsenal are so interested in David.
If the Gunners are willing to take a chance on him then the Hale Ender has already shown that he could be what they're looking for come the summer.
