Arsenal star told he will cost Mikel Arteta Premier League title as dream £100m replacement is named
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta
Mikel Arteta has been told he will need to consider splurging a massive amount on a new striker if Arsenal are to ever win the Premier League after Alan Shearer highlighed some major faults in Gabriel Jesus’ game and explained why he often lets the Gunners down.
Arteta’s side have made a superb start to the season, with a 1-0 win over Manchester City last time getting a major monkey off their back and propelling Arsenal to second in the Premier League, trailing Tottenham on goal difference only. With six wins and two draws from their eight Premier League games to date, there are reasons to believe the Gunners can finally win the Premier League title that narrowly evaded them last season.
Indeed, Arsenal finished on 84 points last term, with champions City finishing on 89; had the Gunners beaten City in one of those matches, it would have been they, not Pep Guardiola’s side, who finished as champions.
To try and give themselves a stronger chance, Arsenal granted Arteta funds of over £200m to strengthen his options with Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber and David Raya all signing on.
However, Shearer feels Arsenal remain short in attack and he suggests the Gunners could suffer in the title race after claiming Jesus does not score often enough for the north London side.
“Without wishing to pick on him, he has consistently been underperforming his xG over the past few years,” Shearer told The Athletic regarding Jesus. [That] tells you he’s getting into good positions and isn’t finishing them.
“Exhibit A right here [during a 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur]. Jesus does really well to anticipate the pass and nabs the ball from James Maddison’s toes.”
Perfect Arsenal replacement for Gabriel Jesus named
Shearer continued: “It leaves him in an ideal position in the middle of the goal, with space around him and the choice of aiming either side. He goes with the option of hitting his shot with the front of his foot, which is fine; it’s something I used to do a lot of the time.
“He also goes for power and there’s nothing wrong with that either because power shouldn’t take away from your accuracy. I always felt that if I picked my spot and got my shot away, then the harder I hit it, the harder it would be for the keeper to stop it.
“A load of my goals were struck firmly and weren’t more difficult to control. But this is another example of leaning back for a shot; Jesus’ body and technique are all wrong.”
Arsenal have been strongly linked with Ivan Toney in January and our transfer expert Fraser Fletcher is adamant a move will be sanctioned in January with Arteta seeing the Brentford striker as the final piece in the jigsaw.
However, former Arsenal defender William Gallas suggests that, if Arsenal are going to splurge that much on Toney, they should really push the boat out and sign Victor Osimhen instead.
The Napoli striker looks likely to move on in 2024, with his deal at the club expiring in summer 2025. More over, Osimhen recently had a falling out with the club after their social media team bizarrely mocked him for missing a penalty.
Now Gallas reckons Arsenal should aim high and try and bring the £100m-rated Nigerian to Emirates Stadium.
“I think Arsenal need one world-class striker, and at the moment, Toney is not a world-class striker, he is a good striker who has been doing well, but Arsenal need a striker like [Erling] Haaland.”
Gabriel Jesus told he will cost Arsenal the Premier League title
Speaking to Lord Ping, Gallas continued: “Osimhen is a different class of striker. He can do damage in the Premier League and I think he can be that striker for Arsenal.
“It’s difficult to think of others who are that good! I think the lack of world-class strikers is a big problem for modern football. There used to be so many!”
Asked if he thinks Arsenal can win the Premier League title this season, Gallas sadly thinks it will elude them again unless they sign an upgrade for Jesus.
“No, I don’t think Arsenal will win the league this season. I think they’re still missing something, and although they won against Man City, it looked like Arsenal still need a striker who can make a difference. They don’t have that at the moment.
“Gabriel Jesus was playing on the right-hand side up front and he’s doing well, but the Gunners need a striker who can be clinical.
“They’re playing well, but they drew their previous two games before City and they can’t afford to do that. It was only a 5-point difference between them and City last season, and if more of those were victories, Arsenal would’ve won the league.”
Arsenal return to action on Saturday with a tricky trip to tackle Premier League rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, before they travel to Sevilla in the Champions League.
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