Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's electric start at Barcelona coupled with Dusan Vlahovic's continued growth in Serie A with new side Juventus has been a bitter pill for Arsenal fans to swallow.
The Gunners had been heavily touted to make a big money move for a new number 9 in the mid-season market but for whatever reason, they were actually weakened in that department when the January 31 deadline passed by.
Edu's failure to replace the out of favour Aubameyang has left Mikel Arteta with just Alexandre Lacazette, Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Martinelli to make do in that position until the end of the 2021/22 campaign.
Thankfully from the north Londoners' perspective, the former out of the trio has stepped up in the absence of Aubameyang with two important goal contributions against Wolves over the past few weeks.
It must be noted though that at a similar time when we may be witnessing a mini resurgence in the Frenchman's form, Aubameyang and Vlahovic have been firing for their new clubs.
The Gabon international has netted five goals in all competitions for Barcelona in the past three games and is already on course to overtake Memphis Depay to potentially win the top scorer award in Catalunya this season.
Meanwhile, Vlahovic has netted three times in his past two encounters in the Champions League and Serie A respectively with his latest brace against Empoli highlighting his top-class 'characteristics' at just 22-years of age, according to manager Max Allegri.
“Vlahovic is an important player, he has character as well as quality and has the kind of characteristics we didn’t have in the squad," the Italian boss admitted via Football Italia.
“You could tell straight away this lad has character, wants to win and is eager to learn. He moved a lot more today, didn’t just stay central, and that was a big advantage for him and for Juventus.”
With the past being the past, Arteta and co will be looking forward to what is expected to be a very productive summer transfer window for the north London outfit on the incoming and outgoing side of things.
On the incomings, as already mentioned, a new striker to fill Aubameyang's long-term void will be at the top of the wishlist and despite fresh rumours to Czech Republic international Patrick Schick, a signing of the calibre of Robert Lewandowski would be a statement of intent from the Arsenal hierarchy.
The serial goal scorer from Poland and his tenuous contract situation has alerted several Premier League clubs who may consider a reduced price transfer swoop if new contract negotiations were to go nowhere.
As per Four Four Two, Arsenal are one of those said clubs who could prime themselves for an ambitious move for Bayern's number 9 who at the age of 34, may not be offered the contract he's after in Germany.
"Robert Lewandowski's future situation is absolutely open," transfer guru Fabrizio Romano clarified on Twitter on Sunday. "He's focused on second part of the season with Bayern - but his current contract expires in 2023 and he wants a new deal to stay. There are still no talks between Bayern and his agent ."
With 40 goal contributions to his name in 2021-22 so far in only 31 encounters, it's unsurprising to see why the current sixth placed Gunners would be contemplating a move for a player who would certainly appease the fans after respective disappointments regarding what happened to Aubameyang and Vlahovic.
