Mikel Arteta confirms Arsenal striker pursuit despite recent goal glut

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that the club's recent goalscoring form doesn't change the plans to recruit a striker in the summer transfer window ahead of next season.

The Gunners became the first team in the 136-year history of English league football to score five or more goals in three successive away games when they put six past Sheffield United on Monday, following previous thrashings of Burnley and West Ham.

At home in recent weeks, they have also scored four against Newcastle, three against Liverpool and four against Crystal Palace to make themselves both the Premier League’s top scorers (68 goals) and the meanest defence (23 goals against) so far this season.

But the intention to dip into the market for a striker is still there.

"No, the plans that we have for the summer are very clear and were done almost at the start of the season, understanding what we can have, the contract situations that we have with some players and how we want to improve and maintain the level of the team," Arteta said on Thursday.

"[Scoring a lot of goals recently] certainly has not changed anything."

Arsenal spent £45m on Gabriel Jesus in 2022 and the Brazilian brings his own strengths to the team, but regular goalscoring isn't really one of them.

The Gunners have notably shared goals around instead, with Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard all netting 15 times in all competitions last season. Saka has hit 16 already in 2023/24, but Leandro Trossard (10) is the only other player to get into double figures.

Overall, they lack a consistent focal point in the 'number nine' role like Manchester City have with Erling Haaland, with Arteta rotating between Jesus, Trossard, Kai Havertz and Eddie Nketiah.

Arsenal have long admired Brentford's Ivan Toney but a prohibitive price tag killed off the possibility of a January approach. Bees boss Thomas Frank has since confirmed that the England striker, who is out of contract in 2025, is likely to be sold at the end of the season.

Arteta refused to be drawn about Toney in particular: "I don't talk about any other player because if not I have to be ruling out every player in the market because we are linked with a lot of players."

90min understands that Sporting CP's Viktor Gyokeres, priced at the value of his €100m (£86m) release clause, has been scouted but isn't a priority target. Benjamin Sesko is a long-term target who was open to a Premier League move in January that didn't materialise, Dusan Vlahovic has been on the radar despite Juventus hoping to keep him, with Bologna's Joshua Zirkzee another option. Red Bull Salzburg teenager Karim Konate has been watched by scouts in recent months too.

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