Summer 2025 Transfer Window: Page 132 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Summer 2025 Transfer Window

Sicario2

Claudius ok so let’s write off another season then. Can’t wait for 2026-2027.

flobaba

@Claudius, I take his point, that if Sesko/Gyok (natural center forwards) are not instant and significant upgrades on Havertz/Merino (not natural center forwards) in the center forward position, we are doing this wrong...

samthegooner

Sicario2 The point would be bringing in someone like Sesko who ideally would develop this year and displace him by the end of the year, but at the very least he would provide another great option off the bench that isn't a CM playing striker like we had last year. Being able to bring in a Sesko like talent in the 70th minute of a game is something we haven't had in years and it clearly killed us this year. And then if he hits the ground running and continues to fulfill his immense potential, you've got a league winning CF emerging in the second half of this year.

Personally, I think we can win trophies with Kai as our CF and think he is very underrated on this forum with the work he does outside of simply finishing. The list of CF's in the league right now that start over him is very short IMO: Haaland and Isak.

Claudius

samthegooner folks underestimate what it takes to finish 2nd for three years in a row, including an injury olagued season. We are really good. We just need to fill out the squad strategically so we don’t drop points needlessly.

Pepe LeFrits

samthegooner Agree. I'm pretty confident Havertz will start the season at 9 for us.

Havertz is a very good player and I reckon both Sesko and Gyokeres would be as well for us, so I'd be happy with us getting either as it won't leave us so exposed again to Kai getting injured or losing form. I don't see either as being the big ceiling raisers they're being made out to be though. It seems like because we need an absolutely elite striker, people have convinced themselves that they, or moreso Gyokeres, must be one. Wishing doesn't make it so and it's why I'm leaning towards Sesko now, because he has long term upside and might end up being one of the absolute elite. We already have one good striker so I'd rather our other striker to have that potential. I'd hate to see one of our rivals ending up with the next Kane/Lewa/Isak/Haaland while we're left with two strikers in their late twenties who are merely good. Of course it could turn out that Gyokeres takes the league by storm, he has a certain willfulness about him so it wouldn't shock me, but it worries me that only Man United seem to be the only other club sniffing around him. If he's the sure thing he's made out to be, he should be more sought after.

flobaba

samthegooner bold statement that there's only two strikers in the prem better than Havertz. Very bold statement.

I'm very much pro-Havertz, and while I agree that he's underrated when it comes to his non goal scoring contributions (his work rate is animalistic), I also think his goal scoring contributions, which are presumably what we pay him for, are meh enough that we have been looking to upgrade on him for the past 2 transfer windows.

Also you want a player leading the line on whom you can rely to consistently give you (an increased chance for) a moment of breakthrough when all else fails. A player defenders must account for. Even if we get a Martinelli upgrade, I would want our center forward to also have that quality.

Don Pacifico

Claudius it's also about having options to rotate in/out not just from a freshness perspective but in terms of tactical variety too. We've not had that capacity in the forward line.

samthegooner

Claudius Yup we need maybe 1-2 starting first team players to add a little more star power but mostly, a better bench that can be called upon and provide close to 1:1 parity in terms of quality and as Don Pacifico said, tactical variety. Think of some of the games we struggled in this year when we had a bench of teenagers and 3-4 left backs and flip that to next year having the ability to add in genuine first team challengers when we need a boost. I'm not going to be too hung up on who displaces who but moreso, that we have competition for places and a squad of 16-17 starting level players that we can rotate and use as game changers.

Claudius

Cute video

Claudius

samthegooner Yup. for me tactical variety starts with more speed particularly in last 20 minutes of games.

Klaus

Pepe LeFrits It seems like because we need an absolutely elite striker, people have convinced themselves that they, or moreso Gyokeres, must be one. Wishing doesn't make it so

Feel free to name the three football players who have scored 63 goals or more in a single season in the last 30 years. Spoiler:

I realise the bulk of those goals are in the Portuguese league, but if this was easy or common, where are the other players who have done it? I've watched a bit of this league and it's no worse than Ligue 1 or Bundesliga on average. The top teams are a tier below the two giants in Germany and France, but the quality of the rest of the league is not really that different.

Think it's hilarious to claim Havertz is anywhere near this level as a striker. He's just not. You'd be hard pressed finding a single non-Arsenal fan who'd even rank him as one of the 10-15 best strikers in Europe. That's the difference really, and it's why Arsenal never win anything.

Pepe LeFrits

Also, not a chance we're signing both.

RowJimmy

We don't need a classic/natural CF. We need more goal threat from whatever positions we can get it.

flobaba

RowJimmy if Sesko/Gyok are not instant and significant goal threat upgrades than Merino/Havertz, we are doing this wrong.

Better? 🙂

samthegooner

flobaba I probably should have qualified that as there are only 2 PL CF that would start over him at Arsenal. Yes there are definitely better goal scorers out there in the league but none offer the combination of traits outside of pure goal scoring that he possesses. I'm very biased against Haaland since I don't think he's a quality footballer - just a brute with phenomenal physical gifts and the ability to finish well, but I actually think Havertz is a better fit for how we play than an out and out finisher like Haaland. I know I am quite in the minority there and don't pretend that my own personal bias against Haaland influences my thought process but that's where I'm at. Now, I would love a guy like Sesko who has the ability (or potential ability) to do a lot of the things that Havertz does well (win balls in the air, press from the top, make intelligent runs between the lines) while also having more pace, ball striking ability and the ability to make runs on the back shoulder of the last defender. Having both of them would give us great options to play one or the other or even play them together as Sesko continues to develop.

Trust me when I say that I would be over the moon if by the end of this year, Sesko is our first name on the team sheet at CF since I think it would mean that he has started to put together all of his immense potential to become one of the best CF's in the world. But I won't be upset if he takes a bit of time to find his feet or if Havertz is still our CF at the end of the season.

Sicario2

flobaba

samthegooner what is your goal for the season? To win trophies or to develop players?

HomeSteak

samthegooner so let's say you have the choice. Haaland or Havertz to start for us?

QuincyAbeyie

samthegooner Wait, is Haaland not one of the two strikers you're referring to?

lorddulaarsenal

A few links to Vlahovic popping up today. He’d make a lot of sense if the price is right.

Vlahovic and splurge on Rodrygo.

Then maybe get another attacking midfielder in. Rogers, Eze, Sancet and the likes

samthegooner

lorddulaarsenal Huge no on Vlahovic. We've seen enough over the last few years to know he's not going to move the needle here. Every time I see a Vlahovic link, it screams agent leverage to me. His agent just loves using us.

Qwiss

If we sign a striker who isn't automatically ahead of Havertz we have no chance of winning the league or CL.

Gazza M

Qwiss arteta usually doesn't hesitate to use his new signings immediately. I think whoever we sign - even if it's sesko - will go straight in

Burnwinter

We should obviously retain Havertz while we qualify if Gyökeres or Šeško (or another forward) upgrades him. If they don't, we're in trouble. If they do, which is obviously the preferred option, we can see how Havertz fares as a substitute super-soldier and cash in if appropriate. Thinking this way is in Šeško's favour as he'd be more likely to tolerate a season or two developing in a more peripheral role. But if we're convinced Havertz can be improved on by one of the two, the pendulum still swings back to Gyökeres.

Qwiss

Gazza M I think so too. I can't see us splashing £70m+ on a player who's going to sit on the bench. Maybe Sesko would get a slow introduction like Raya but whoever it is should be first choice by the end of the September. If they are not we've made an absolute bollox of the window.

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