Arsenal’s primary precedence this summer time is obvious: signal a striker.
On Saturday morning, Fabrizio Romano reported that the Gunners are near signing Martín Zubimendi from Actual Sociedad, anticipated to set off his £51m launch clause.
Nonetheless, that is prone to be simply the beginning of Mikel Arteta’s summer time spending, with a brand new centre-forward high of the agenda, after Arsenal have been dumped out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain on the semi-final stage on Wednesday, regardless of accumulating an xG determine of 5.11 throughout the 2 legs, scoring simply as soon as.
So, may they safe a “enormous expertise” who may simply be their greatest striker since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang?
Arsenal’s curiosity in a brand new striker
As reported earlier this week, Arsenal are believed to have made a proposal for Ipswich City striker Liam Delap over the opportunity of a summer time transfer.
Following the Tractor Boys’ relegation, it was reported by Jacob Steinberg, Nick Ames and Jamie Jackson of the Guardian that Delap now has a £30m launch clause, which represents a discount, provided that Jacek Kulig of Soccer Expertise Scout believes he’s a “enormous expertise”.
In consequence, Arsenal are definitely not the one membership , with Wayne Veysey of Soccer Insider noting that Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and Chelsea are additionally courting the striker, whereas Danny Rust and Dean Jones of Give Me Sport declare that Tottenham have additionally ‘set their sights’ on signing him.
Nonetheless, on track for a 3rd successive high two end, and in critical want of a brand new centre-forward, Arsenal could possibly be essentially the most engaging proposition offered to Delap, so may he be the striker they have been looking for since a sure high-profile departure.
Why Delap may emulate Aubameyang
Aubameyang joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund for a reported payment of £55m in January 2018, nonetheless, to at the present time, the fourth-highest payment the membership have ever paid, behind solely Kai Havertz, Nicolas Pépé and Declan Rice.
The Gabonese worldwide definitely made an instantaneous impression in North London, scoring simply 37 minutes into his debut towards Everton, netting 92 instances in simply 163 appearances for the membership in complete, leaving him proper up there when it comes to trendy Arsenal greats.
Arsenal’s high scorers (1982-present) | |
---|---|
Gamers | Objectives |
Thierry Henry | 228 |
Ian Wright | 185 |
Robin van Persie | 132 |
Dennis Bergkamp | 120 |
Alan Smith | 113 |
Theo Walcott | 108 |
Olivier Giroud | 105 |
Paul Merson | 99 |
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | 92 |
All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt |
Aubameyang’s best second got here within the 2020 FA Cup, scoring twice to defeat Manchester Metropolis within the semi-finals, earlier than bagging one other brace towards Chelsea within the remaining in a 2-1 victory, securing the membership’s most up-to-date main silverware.
Straight after the ultimate, Aubameyang was rewarded with a brand new three-year contract however, by 6 December 2021, he had performed his remaining sport for the membership, seeing this similar contract terminated to permit him to hitch Barcelona as a free agent, following a high-profile falling out with Arteta.
So, may Delap be the Aubameyang alternative three and a half years within the making?
Nicely, let’s evaluate Delap’s exploits for Ipswich this season with Aubameyang’s greatest marketing campaign at Arsenal.
Liam Delap 2024/25 vs Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 2024/25 (PL solely) | ||
---|---|---|
Statistics | Liam Delap | Aubameyang |
Appearances | 34 | 36 |
Minutes | 2,515 | 2,732 |
Objectives | 12 | 22 |
Assists | 2 | 5 |
Pictures | 64 | 89 |
Pictures on course % | 43.8% | 38.2% |
Objectives – xG | +2.3 | -0.5 |
Objectives inside the world | 11 | 20 |
Objectives exterior the world | 1 | 2 |
Massive possibilities missed | 10 | 23 |
Shot-creating actions | 62 | 60 |
Aim-creating actions | 7 | 11 |
Touches in opposition space | 101 | 149 |
Touches per 90 | 24 | 35 |
Statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt, FBref.com, SofaScore and Squawka |
Because the desk outlines, relating to sure metrics particularly, Delap and Aubameyang are very comparable.
Each scored greater than 90% of their objectives contained in the field, whereas the numbers additionally underline that each are low-touch, high-shot strikers, with neither touching the ball ceaselessly, however each registering greater than two pictures per sport, which is especially spectacular for Delap, contemplating how poor Ipswich have been this season.
The Englishman truly outperformed Aubameyang relating to pictures on course %, objectives – xG in addition to shot-creating actions, whereas the previous Arsenal man truly missed 23 Opta-defined massive possibilities, essentially the most of any participant within the division in 2018/19.
Switch Focus
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So, in a considerably stronger aspect, every thing suggests Delap could possibly be the deadly finisher that Arsenal desperately require to take them to the subsequent stage.
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