Arsenal didn’t sign a new striker in the summer 2024 transfer window and are now paying a dear price for their mistake. Despite a seven-goal outburst against PSV in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16, the Gunners have struggled to get enough goals this season and have fallen well and truly behind Liverpool in the Premier League title race.
Kai Havertz’s and Gabriel Jesus’s injuries have added another level of desperation to the Arsenal attack, whose performance against PSV can be taken as more of an opponent-based exception to the rule.
Arsenal will, once again, be linked to a large number of top strikers next summer, but instead of just being linked with up-and-coming goal-scorers like Viktor Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko, the Gunners will also be linked to sure-fire elite Premier League standouts like Alexander Isak.
One name that some Arsenal fans have been kicking around is Hugo Ekitike, who became “the guy” for Eintracht Frankfurt this season after Omar Marmoush, the biggest breakout star in European football this season, made a mid-campaign move to the Gunners’ former title rivals, Manchester City.
Hugo Ekitike is not a favorite for Arsenal
But any Arsenal fans getting their hopes up for the exciting Ekitike as an alternative to, say, Sesko should temper expectations. The Athletic’s David Ornstein has stated, via afcstuff, that he hasn’t heard any current information about Ekitike or other strikers being priority targets on the level of Sesko or Isak:
“Arsenal will have done a significant amount of work on many options & to my knowledge, none more so than Sesko. That doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to sign him because there is the Isak interest & also they are not the only club pursuing Sesko. Personally, I haven’t heard of Ekitike or any other candidates being as high in the thinking as those two at this stage, but that can always change, of course.”
It seems increasingly like Sesko is the overwhelming favorite to join Arsenal as their next striker this summer transfer window, replacing Havertz masquerading as an out-and-out No. 9.
While Sesko would be a more than welcome addition, others like Viktor Gyokeres and Hugo Ekitike have more than enough talent to start for Arsenal, and Ekitike could make even more economic sense for the Gunners with so many teams lining up to spend top dollar on the more hyped Gyokeres and Sesko.
So far this season, the 22-year-old Ekitike has 13 goals with 1.7 dribbles completed and 1.3 key passes per game, making him one of the most well-rounded strikers in the Bundesliga.
