Arsenal urged to replicate bizarre Real Madrid signing to solve striker headache

Arsenal have been advised to take a leaf from Real Madrid’s book in their pursuit of a new striker – by moving for a player like one who is now in the Qatar Stars League.

Newcastle condemned Arsenal to a 1-0 defeat on Saturday, with only one shot on target being registered by Mikel Arteta’s side. There have already been plenty of calls for Arsenal to sign a better striker than what they have – and those shouts are only going to increase after this weekend, even though title rivals Manchester City have lost as well.

Yet for all the world-class names Arsenal could be considering, former England midfielder Joe Cole believes they should be looking at more of an impact player – pointing to the success Joselu had with Real Madrid last season.

Cole said on TNT Sports: “I think of the great Real Madrid team [under] Carlo Ancelotti. Joselu, he played for them, he’d come in. You need to have an option at times.

“When Arsenal were playing it from side to side, side to side, the wingers were getting no joy, so then, what do you do?

“Saka’s getting no joy out of Lewis Hall, [Leandro] Trossard’s getting nothing out of [Tino] Livramento on the other side. You’re getting into the final third and then you need to deliver it, but then you get the ball, you look up and you see it’s [Kai] Havertz or [Gabriel] Jesus or [Gabriel] Martinelli in there.

“I’m just thinking recruitment-wise, if you did bring in a centre-forward, it doesn’t have to be an elite centre-forward who can do everything, but someone who’s got great movement, somebody who could finish that chance.”

READ MORE: Arsenal to make fresh move for £25m-rated Spaniard, as Edu refuses to yield after summer rejection

‘If it’s good enough for Real Madrid, it’s good enough for Arsenal’

Some eyebrows were raised when Real Madrid signed Joselu on loan for the 2023-24 season. The veteran had previously had spells with Stoke City and Newcastle United in the Premier League, scoring four goals for the former and seven for the latter.

But Joselu enjoyed a good loan spell back with Real Madrid, scoring 18 goals from 49 games as they won LaLiga and the Champions League, before heading off to the Qatar Stars League with Al-Gharafa in the summer.

While Cole was not advocating for Arsenal to sign Joselu specifically, he insisted that if it was ‘good enough for Real Madrid’ to take a player of that profile, then it ought to be for the Gunners too.

He continued: “I just think this team needs to take that next step. I’m thinking solutions-wise in January, why not go and buy someone who might play three or four times for 15 minutes at the end of a game when you’re throwing bodies into the box, something like that, just to mix it up?

“If it’s good enough for Real Madrid, it’s good enough for Arsenal.”

Strikers Arsenal have been linked with recently

In terms of who Arsenal could be targeting for the centre-forward role, TEAMtalk has learned they are not willing to overspend in January – which may leave room for a player of the mould Cole is talking about – and would rather commit to a big move next summer.

In that regard, Sporting striker Viktor Gyokeres is someone they could be paying close attention to, especially if he starts questioning his future after the departure of head coach Ruben Amorim to Manchester United.

Arsenal have also been linked with a less established striker from Brazil, a market their sporting director Edu knows well and has utilised before to bring in players like Martinelli.

And there have also been rumours of interest in attacking players of different styles such as Bayern Munich winger Leroy Sane and Brentford star Bryan Mbeumo.

Arsenal lagging behind in goalscorer stakes

The table above shows the clubs who have at least one player above Arsenal’s top scorer in the Premier League’s goalscoring charts so far this season.

Havertz has only scored four Premier League goals so far, meaning eight clubs can currently say they have a more reliable marksman than Arsenal do.

And other than the German forward, only four Arsenal players have scored more than once in the league so far this season.

While Havertz won over some of his critics last season, his output needs to improve further if he is to represent a genuine solution up front for Arsenal. And even if he remains the regular starter for now, it would help Arteta to have another hungry goalscorer to rotate him for.