While the likes of London rivals Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur were being chucked out of the FA Cup this weekend, Arsenal were out in Dubai for some warm-weather training and much-needed rest.
However, the only reason the North Londoners are out in the Middle East is that they failed to get past Manchester United in the last round of the competition.
What makes that all the more frustrating is that Mikel Arteta’s side were arguably the better side on the day, creating four big chances to the visitors’ two, but poor finishing from Kai Havertz and a dire penalty from Martin Odegaard cost them.
The former has come in for a lot of stick in recent months, and there was perhaps an admission from the club that they need more attacking reinforcements when they reportedly made an unsuccessful bid for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins late last month.
Arteta ultimately ended up with no new players, and to make matters worse, one of their former youth prospects is continuing to excel on the continent and is outperforming Havertz and Watkins in the process.
Why Arsenal need an attacker
It was no secret that heading into the transfer window, the one area of the pitch Arsenal desperately needed to strengthen was attack.
That need was only made more acute with Bukayo Saka’s hamstring injury just after Christmas and again when Gabriel Jesus suffered an ACL injury against United in the FA Cup midway through last month.
However, injuries are not the only reason fans and pundits have been calling out for the Gunners to sign some new attackers, as Leandro Trossard has just 11 goal involvements to his name in 36 games this season, Gabriel Martinelli had as many in 35 games before his Hamstring injury, and Raheem Sterling has just three in 18 games.
Saka
24
9
13
Havertz
34
15
5
Martinelli
35
7
4
Trossard
36
5
6
Jesus
27
7
2
Nwaneri
23
7
0
In fact, the only player to hit double figures for goals thus far is Havertz, who has found the back of the net 15 times and provided five assists in 34 games, while Saka remains the overall leader for goal involvements, with 22 in 24 games.
This all helps to explain the club’s reported bid for Watkins, as prior to suffering his own minor injury, the former Exeter City star had racked up a brilliant haul of 11 goals and nine assists in 33 games this season.
Yet, as impressive as the Englishman has been this year, he’s being outperformed by one of Arsenal’s former youth players who left the club years ago.
The former Arsenal prospect outperforming Havertz and Watkins
Thanks to Arsenal having such a brilliant academy in Hale End, quite a number of the club’s former youth players are enjoying stellar campaigns this season.
From Mika Biereth at AS Monaco to Donyell Malen, who just joined Aston Villa, there are a number of attacking players who Arteta would probably love to have in his current squad, but in this case, the player outperforming both Havertz and Watkins is Michael Olise.
Before appearing on people’s radar at Reading, moving and making a name for himself with Crystal Palace and securing a mega-money move to Bayern Munich, the Hammersmith-born dynamo spent a brief period in the Gunners’ academy set-up before leaving as a boy on a free transfer.
Appearances
31
Minutes
1959′
Goals
10
Assists
12
Goal Involvements per Match
0.70
Minutes per Goal Involvement
89.04′
Since moving to Germany, the 23-year-old “wizard,” as dubbed by writer Muhammad Butt, has been nothing short of spectacular and has more than justified the sizable £50m outlay FC Hollywood made on him.
For example, in 31 appearances so far, totalling 1959 minutes, he has scored ten goals and provided 12 assists for the Bavarian behemoths.
Not only is that two more goal involvements than both Havertz and Watkins managed, but it also works out to a brilliant average of one every 1.40 games, or every 89.04 minutes – talk about being a game-changer.
Ultimately, it’s hard to blame Arsenal for missing out on the incredible talent when he left the club so young, but even so, we can’t help but imagine how much more dangerous Arteta’s team could be with a player like Olise in it.
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