How easily could Arsenal upgrade at striker?

Grading out the top 35 performers of this campaign so far

Be it from a finishing slump or regression to the mean, Arsenal haven’t been as dangerous in front of goal this season.

Given there’s not a beefy, tall guy leading the line and scoring most weeks and fans were already fixated on rectifying that, cries for a new goalscoring specialist have only grown louder as a result.

While action this month seems a bit harder to make happen, our favorite club certainly does seem to be eyeing a number of 9s, be that Ivan Toney, Dominic Solanke, Victor Osimhen or even Borja Mayoral.

But as we look ahead to June for this fix to happen, who could Arsenal realistically push for? I’ve used 19 metrics to rank every centre-forward in the top five leagues, as well as those in other associations like the Championship, Belgian Pro League, Eredivisie, and a few more. Below is what I came up with.

Before we get started:

• This list is created relying fully on statistics from this season. I always encourage a healthy dose of the eye test before forming a final opinion on any player, so consume responsibly.

• I required 9.0 90s, or 810 minutes, of league play to qualify for this rank. That means there are a couple of notable missing players, obviously Toney, but also Benjamin Šeško, another potential target. Keep your subscription up to date for more on him in the future.

• I generally aimed toward pre-prime or early prime, so again you’ll find no 28+ players here. The ranking itself also consists only of “attainable” players for Arsenal. That’s a very subjective way to chop up a list, but just be aware I’m not throwing guys at Premier League rivals out there unless I feel strongly that Arsenal could sign them.

• These guys don’t all play striker the same way. In this rank you’ll find target men, false nines, poachers and more.

• All scores are subject to an adjustment according to league strength, so you shouldn’t have to mentally raise or lower rankings to make it more “fair.”

• Due to time limitations, this data was pulled BEFORE this past weekend’s (Jan 20-21) matches. I’ll note a couple guys who played really well below.

As always, let’s set a baseline by looking at Arsenal’s present options.