Exactly three seasons ago Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain had his famous medical at the London Colney according to various news outlets.
But unfortunately the Arsenal management wasn’t aware of it and eventually the move didn’t materialize and Higuain joined Italian club Napoli instead. After that incident, every single season Higuain has been linked with the gunners as he has enjoyed mostly success with Napoli scoring 91 goals in all competitions over three seasons and winning one Coppa Italia and one Supercoppa Italiana title during the course.
But at times he has been criticized for his Argentina national team performances. He has been involved in all three of Argentina’s runner-up finishes in the last three once in the World cup (to Germany) and twice in the Copa America (both times to Chile). And all three times he has been the major scapegoat.
Finally, this year when the Higuain rumors were heating up it seemed as though the most sorted striker of this summer transfer window after a record-breaking Serie A season with Napoli where he scored 36 goals would end up at Arsenal.
But it is far from over as Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis claimed that the club wanted a huge amount of money(over 50 million pounds) if any team were to bid for the 28-year-old striker. So that leaves Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger with two options that are either to break the bank for Higuain or turn his attention towards cheaper but quality strikers.
Being the man he is one might think that Wenger might try to persuade the Napoli management into reducing the Higuain fee or might just try luring in younger options like Mauro Icardi or Alexandre Lacazette who also have been linked with the gunners this transfer window.
One of them is another Argentine striker and Internazionale captain Mauro Icardi. 23-year old Icardi joined Internazionale at the same time when Higuain joined Napoli and has since managed 52 goals and 15 assists in 105 games for the Nerazzurri and has become their captain at such a young age and in just his third season for the club.
With reported interest from our north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, Wenger could be the turning point in convincing him to choose the Emirates over White Hart Lane. Having so many years of club and international football left in him Icardi could be the striker we have been searching for since the departure f Robin Van Persie in 2012.
He scored one-third of Inter’s total goals last season in Serie A (16 out of 50) and was Roberto Mancini’s go-to man last season. Icardi’s wife and agent Wanda Nara had confirmed this week that both the North London clubs have shown interest in signing her husband. And to go with that recently even sky sports reported about Arsenal’s interest on Icardi.
The other Serie A striker on whom Wenger has set his sights on is Colombian Carlos Bacca who moved to AC Milan from Sevilla only last season. The fact is that both Milan clubs (Inter and AC) don’t have Champions League football next season and hence Arsenal could use this point to lure their strikers. Arsenal seems to have raced ahead of West Ham United to the signature of Bacca after Telegraph reported that the 29-year old Colombian wants Champions League football next season.
He finished only behind two Argentine strikers Higuain and Dybala in the Serie A top scorers chart (with 18 goals). His age might be the only factor that Wenger has to think about because even French striker Olivier Giroud is 29 and we desperately need younger prospects who would stay in the club for longer periods.
But nonetheless, Bacca is a proven talent who can score in crunch moments and also provide magical moments from out of nowhere. He can complement Giroud in the longer run considering that we have a long season ahead of us with players like Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez along with Giroud will miss the first few games of the season after completing tiring International duties in the offseason.
Another long-time Arsenal target linked with us this season is 25-year-old France and Olympique Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette. He might not have featured in France’s Euro 2016 campaign but he has definitely earned the respect of his National team manager Didier Deschamps by scoring 20+ goals in three consecutive seasons for Lyon.
He even was named Ligue 1 player of the season in the 2014/15 season after winning the golden boot that season over Swedish great Zlatan Ibrahimovic with 27 goals. Over the last three seasons, Lacazette has totally accumulated 76 goals and 20 assists for the former French champions.
Just like Higuain even Lacazette has been linked with Arsenal for the past few seasons. And Wenger himself being French could put his negotiation prowess to good use and lure the young Frenchman to the Emirates stadium.
With only Granit Xhaka signed this season we still need to come up with better signings to mount a challenge in the most competitive Premier League season in quite a while. With talented and proven managers like Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte, Jurgen Klopp, Claudio Ranieri, Slaven Bilic, Ronald Koeman and Mauricio Pochettino in the race this season we are probably gonna have the closest title race in years with many teams involved. Let us keep hoping that Wenger brings in top players into the squad to assist our title challenge.
