Arsenal have two matches left of the Premier League season, but the talk of transfers has already begun to take all the attention. The club are already active with new sporting director Andrea Berta taking the lead in talks over summer targets.
While Mikel Arteta will be keen to strengthen in many areas, naturally the centre-forward role is taking most of the focus for supporters. Both in terms of who might come in and what it means for the existing players in the team too.
With all that going on it felt like the perfect time for a Q and A session with our chief Arsenal correspondent Tom Canton. Here are some of the highlights.
Question: Viktor Gyokeres has scored 100 goals for Sporting, 12 of them penalties and only four (!) have been headed goals. Should this be cause for concern for an Arteta team that often chooses to cross the ball onto the heads of our attacking players?
That said, Benjamin Sesko has three headed goals this year from 13 total in the Bundesliga. Is he the way forward for Arteta’s Arsenal?
Tom Canton: He's scored more than 12 penalties that is for sure, 12 is just in the league in the last two seasons, the actual total is above 20. Read about it and have your say in the poll here.
I think there are good arguments for both players and I am genuinely 50/50 on a personal view of who to go for. Gyokeres' goal tally and ball striking is more impressive, but he's doing it in a less competitive league for the top side in the division.
Sesko is younger, more raw and less prolific but is already in one of Europe's top five leagues and his goal per shot ratio is actually very good.
Q: Arteta is a great coach but he has shown an unwillingness to give his best stars the rest they need. The series of injuries to his key players has proved time and again that he either demands too much out of the tired legs just waiting for the next hamstring to go, or he does not trust his bench, and his younger stars in the making.
What needs to be done? Even when up by multiple goals, Saka and Rice do not get rested… A five-minute break is not enough. Saka's drop-off in form appears to be [due to] fatigue. Rice's injury came after massive minutes and huge efforts. How to fix it? The younger starlets are leaving, seeing that the head coach is unwilling to give them first-team minutes…
TC: The age old question of how do you balance competitiveness and rotation. I think it goes a little far to suggest Arteta is unwilling to rotate and he has certainly highlighted that, despite his very public desire in January to strengthen, he has been left short in terms of numbers. Injuries this season have gone above the average and Arteta might also point to number of minutes key players like Mohamed Salah etc play.
Ultimately it is less on the clubs and more on the authorities (personal opinion) to look at the number of matches per calendar year that players are expected to take part in, especially after recent expansions to the Champions League and Club World Cup. On the young players, Arsenal are one of the leading clubs with youth players getting minutes in the first team, not everyone can and frankly we've been spoiled with it - so do not let the likes of Ayden Heaven and Chido Obi Martin's exits sway the broader picture.
Q: Regardless of fees, if Arteta says he wants a player (eg, Isak), is Andrea Berta obligated to fulfil his request, or does he have the authority to say 'no, take Gyokeres/ Sesko instead'? Must Berta fulfil every request made by Arteta, or will he be allowed to make his own recommendations that may not have Arteta's approval?
TC: It is difficult to answer this without ignoring the fee involved, because this obviously is a broader question about budgets and proximity within Profit and Sustainability rules and Financial Fair Play (they do differ).
If what you're asking is about hierarchy and who has final say on deals and targets, certainly it is unlikely a player will come in without Mikel Arteta's say-so. Ultimately the club see both being figures who will work together to complete the summer plan.
These plans were drawn up before Berta's arrival, with influence from Edu before, the interim Jason Ayto and now Berta has come in with Arteta expecting him to have his say, to change and tweak those plans.
Q: How are Arsenal planning to add depth to the squad this summer with players like Zinchenko, Tierney, Kiwior, and Sterling all likely to go? Arsenal are already short with those guys, so it feels like even more will need to be signed.
TC: There is no guarantee yet that either Kiwior or Zinchenko will go; it would not be a surprise if either stayed, especially the former, considering his form. That said, both have suitors, and Zinchenko's deal is running down.
Arsenal have Riccardo Calafiori and Myles Lewis-Skelly who can both play left-back. There is certainly interest in adding a defensive reinforcement, however. That said, they look set to complete the permanent deal this summer of young trialist Marcell Washington from Chelsea, who is highly rated and can also play left-back.
Q: How do you see Gyokeres rotating with Havertz if we were to sign him?
TC: Be it Viktor Gyokeres or any of the alternatives the club is considering, Kai Havertz will certainly have a role to play, as Mikel Arteta is a big fan. He has already played several different roles in an Arsenal shirt, and that would be expected to continue.
But if Arsenal go big on a striker, it is unlikely they would be rotating out of the starting XI much, at least not after their integration.
Q: Andrea Berta has only been in the role for a matter of weeks, but how has he started? What can we expect from the Italian?
TC: The feeling is very positive regarding the early signs of what Berta has already done at the club.
There is a sense that the Italian will perhaps be a better match-up for Arteta in terms of getting the best from the two roles in the market and decision-making, and extracting the best potential from each other in this regard.
Expect some surprises and perhaps some left-field picks as the Italian is certainly a character that may not say much but has a very long list of contacts to draw on for potential moves
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Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus with the Arsenal Therapy Dog Win during the Arsenal Men's team group shoot at London Colney on September 18, 2023
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