Premier League champions, how good does that feel Arsenal fans? The Gunners have enjoyed nearly a week’s worth of celebrations after Manchester City lost to Bournemouth last Tuesday.
Yet, just for a few days, the celebrations must be put on hold. The Champions League final awaits. Surely they can’t do the best double in football? Time will tell.
Either way, it’s time for Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta to take advantage of the situation they are in. They are champions of England and European finalists; there will be no better time to take advantage of their status as one of the game’s best when they head into the transfer market.
Don’t expect the Gunners to go crazy in this summer’s window but they are in an amazing position to entice some of the very finest talents the globe has to offer.
Arsenal make their move to sign £100m star
Last summer saw the Gunners spend around £250m on bringing new talent to the Emirates Stadium. It was a mega first window for Berta.
Whether or not they’ll go that big again remains up for debate but they will have to make sales to do so. It has previously been reported that Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri could be on the chopping block. They represent pure profit in the days of PSR. Lewis-Skelly has surely secured his future at Arsenal but Nwaneri’s future is less certain.
The likes of Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard represent opportunities too, particularly with reports linking Arteta’s men with the likes of Bradley Barcola and Rafael Leao.
Yet, there could be room for a new striker. Reports across the last few months have detailed Arsenal’s interest in Atletico Madrid striker Julian Alvarez and things are now starting to hot up in the race to get the Argentine out of the Metropolitano.
That’s according to journalist Pedro Fullana in Spain, via Sport Witness, who revealed on Monday that talks are in motion between various parties. He said: “There have been intermediaries with connections to PSG and Arsenal who have inquired with Atletico.”
Fullana continued: It’s obvious that the club knows that when all this is happening, it’s because Julian’s agents, and therefore Julian himself, have given the green light for discussions about his future away from Atletico.”
Barcelona are also said to be interested and have reportedly made an offer. That, however, does not match the previous £100m asking price the Spanish side have placed on Alvarez’s head. Instead, it was a player (Ferran Torrest) plus cash offer.
Why Alvarez could replace the best of Havertz and Gyokeres
At the end of the day Viktor Gyokeres walked away with a Premier League trophy to show for his efforts. It’s a third successive league crown for the Swede who won two on the bounce with Sporting in Portugual. It’s safe to say success follows him wherever he goes.
That said, this campaign has not been plain sailing for the big-money addition of last summer. Far from it, in fact.
Gyokeres has endured barren spells in front of goal, struggled with his all-round hold up play and has been incapable of keeping the ball. He ranks in the worst 92% of strikers in Europe this season for successful dribbles with just 0.24 per 90 minutes.
However, in recent months, he has come alive. The striker’s ability to hold onto possession has improved significantly and he’s putting his strength to much better use.
No one can say he’s not a ruthless finisher either. Only five players in the whole Premier League had a better conversion rate than his 21.2%.
|
Best conversion rates – Premier League 25/26 |
|
|---|---|
|
Player |
Conversion rate |
|
1) Will Osula |
30.4% |
|
2) Noah Okafor |
22.9% |
|
3) Danny Welbeck |
22.6% |
|
4) Nick Woltemade |
22.6% |
|
5) Eli Junior Kroupi |
22.0% |
|
6) Viktor Gyokeres |
21.2% |
As far as Kai Havertz is concerned, it’s an opposite situation. He’s more wasteful in front of goal; just see that game against Manchester City where it looked like Arsenal had lost the title.
The German did score in that game but he also missed a series of gilt-edged chances, particularly when he headed over late in the game when it looked easier to score.
That said, unlike Gyokeres, he is excellent at holding onto possession. He’s more of a false 9 and in recent years, it has worked a treat. He wove Arsenal’s attacking play together really nicely.
In Alvarez, they would receive a player who can do it all. Like Gyokeres, he’s superb in front of goal. He scored 29 times in 2024/25 and added another 21 to his tally for Atleti in 2025/26.
Furthermore, he’s a regular assister of goals. At Manchester City he played slightly behind Erling Haaland, subsequently scoring 19 times and assisting 13 goals in his final campaign at the Etihad. He also supplied nine assists during his most recent season in Madrid. In the words of the producer behind Argentina’s World Cup documentary, Pablo Gonzalez, he is a “monster”.
It’s night and day to Gyokeres who has only registered three assists since moving to Arsenal. Crucially, like Havertz, Alvarez is capable of knitting things together really nicely.
He completes 1.23 dribbles per 90 minutes and ranks within the top 9% of strikers in Europe’s top five leagues for expected threat in the build-up phases of play. Gyokeres ranks in the worst 20% and Havertz ranks in the top 50%.
Expected Threat (xT) is a metric that measures how much a player’s action, like a pass or ball carry, increases the team’s likelihood of scoring in an immediate sequence of play.
Thus, not only would Arsenal be sealing a hybrid of their two best centre-forward, but also a big upgrade on the pair of them. Like the German, he’s effective in the lead up to goalscoring chances and like Gyokeres, he’s capable of sticking the ball in the back of the net on a very frequent basis.
Bad news for Lewis-Skelly: Arsenal could see £80m bid accepted to sign PL star
Arsenal could sign a big Premier League star for £80m.
