Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that the club are on the look out for two new players as he hopes to mount a title challenge in what could be his final season at the Emirates.
Arsenal have been very active in this summer’s transfer market. They snapped up Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka in the last week of May and reportedly even triggered Leicester City forward Jamie Vardy’s release clause. Even though Vardy looks set to stay at Leicester after a pay raise, manager Arsene Wenger has stated he is looking for two more players to sign before the 2016-17 campaign begins.
“We’ve already bought one player – Granit Xhaka – from [Borussia] Monchengladbach, because we’ve lost three players. We’ve lost Arteta, we’ve lost Rosicky and Flamini,” Wenger told Chinese media outlet Tencent [via The Evening Standard].
“So we’ve bought one midfielder and we’re still in the market to buy one or two more players.”
This coming season is the last year Arsene Wenger has left on his contract, after more than two decades in charge of the Gunners. His transfer business this summer could thus have a lasting impact on his legacy at Arsenal.
A pure striker is the need of the moment
Arsenal are in desperate need of a centre forward. Given the quality that they have in midfield, it is essential that Arsenal look into buying a striker who can feed off the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, as well as provide some attacking impetus of his own.
Olivier Giroud may score on a fairly consistent basis for the Gunners, but he isn’t the type of attacker who can turn a game on its head. The Frenchman’s goal tally has hit double figures ever since he joined Arsenal in 2012, but the club need a striker who can bag them 25 to 30 goals in a season if they want to be taken as serious contenders in Europe.
Giroud has scored 57 Premier League goals in 135 appearances for the club — not the kind of return one would expect from the undisputed number one striker at a Champions League club.
