Ah, the elusive striker. It’s something Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have had nightmares about throughout 2025.
The Gunners entered this year in dire need of a new centre-forward to lead the line. That demand increased even more when Gabriel Jesus injured his anterior cruciate ligament in the FA Cup in January.
The winter period passed without any reinforcements being added to the offensive line. Kai Havertz suffered a hamstring injury in early February, leaving Arteta’s team in dire straits.
Leandro Trossard was something of a solution and the Belgian performed well in 2025/26, but he was not the solution that won Arsenal the gold medal. It was Mikel Merino.
The Spaniard had a great 2025. He’s one of the team’s players of the year and deserves all the accolades he’s getting.
At Dortmund, he was sometimes used as a stopgap centre-half, but Arteta has turned him into a truly elite number nine. At Christmas, Merino had scored 30 goals for club and country.
It’s safe to say he had a much better year than a certain Victor Gokeres.
Why Victor Gokeres is struggling at Arsenal
Arsenal likely failed to sign a striker last January, but were looking to avoid a repeat of the same in the summer transfer window.
The likes of Ollie Watkins and Benjamin Sesco were targeted, but the Gunners landed Gokeres instead, with Andrea Berta leading the way.
On paper, he looked like a solid signing. Arsenal paid £63.5 million for the striker, who scored 54 goals in 52 games last season. It looked like a bargain considering Liverpool signed Alexander Isak for £125m and Nick Waltemaide moved to Newcastle for £69m.
However, on reflection, it seems that Arsenal may have wasted too much money on the Swedish striker. why? Well, he’s been a little underwhelmed so far.
Goals were what Arteta desperately needed as the ongoing campaign approached. Gökeres was brought in to provide that, but heading into Christmas he found the back of the net just seven times in the famous Red and White game.
However, an injury in November halted his progress at a brutal time. The former Sporting man scored against Burnley and looked as if he had finally found his footing in north London. He was forced off at half-time and his form since returning from injury has been incredibly poor.
Gokeres had a total of 38 touches in matches against Aston Villa, Club Brugge and Wolves. He also completed just 12 passes in those games.
Of course, you don’t need to touch the ball a million times to score a goal. Erling Haaland is proof of that. Sadly, Arsenal’s striker hasn’t scored as many goals as the Norwegian.
He looks enthusiastic in front of the goal, struggling to create chances for himself to score. Arsenal are stuck trying to feed only him.
Having Merino up top allows us to bring other players into play and get a wider range of quality from our strikers. But perhaps more worryingly, since returning from his ACL injury, Jesus has looked more active and more likely to score in his few cameos.
That was a red flag that was actually causing fear among supporters. Gokeres may not be the guy to lead them to a title shot.
They would have loved to have had a former Hail Ender among their ranks.
After leaving Arsenal, Hail Ender surpassed Gökeres.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Arsenal have produced a wealth of incredible attacking talent from Hale End over the past few years.
Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe are two of the talents that made Arteta’s formative years as manager so much easier.
But we’ve also seen players like Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dauman break out. Elsewhere, AS Monaco forwards Mika Bielet and Folarin Balogun decided to flee English football and make a name for themselves on the continent.
The same can be said about the man Harry Kane. His story was remarkable. After being rejected and kicked out of Arsenal’s youth system as a boy, he bounced around to pay off numerous loans in the EFL before becoming England and Tottenham Hotspur’s record goalscorer. He is currently widely regarded as one of the best center forwards in world football.
So let’s start from the beginning. How did childhood gooner Kane decide to leave Arsenal?
Liam Brady once recounted an incident 20 years ago and revealed that the reason Kane left was simple: “He was a bit chubby and not very athletic.” “We made a mistake,” Brady admitted.
Harry Kane’s record at senior level | ||
|---|---|---|
team | game | the goal |
spurs | 435 | 280 |
bayern | 121 | 115 |
england | 112 | 78 |
millwall | 27 | 9 |
orient | 18 | 5 |
leicester | 15 | 2 |
norwich | 5 | 0 |
In an alternate reality, Kane is enjoying a great career at Arsenal. Unfortunately for those involved, that wasn’t the case.
It was with their fierce rivals, Spurs, that he gained worldwide popularity. He scored 280 goals in 435 games for the Lilywhites, establishing himself as one of the best players this country has ever seen. At international level, he is an icon and will surely go down as the greatest player to ever wear an England shirt if the Three Lions win the World Cup next summer.
Gokeres, who scored over 50 goals last season, beat Kane to be crowned Europe’s best scorer in the Gerd Muller Trophy in 2024/25, but the latter has proven this season that he is the continent’s best. He is certainly far ahead of Arsenal’s new number 14.
Sweden’s strong side have only scored six goals, but Kane is in great form. The 32-year-old may be in the latter stages of his career, but he is in the best form of his life, having scored an astonishing 30 goals in 25 appearances for Bayern Munich this season.
After his £86m move from Spurs a few years ago, he continues to establish himself as the best striker in the game and is worth every penny. Not even Haaland can match Kane’s numbers this season.
If only Arteta could bring in a talented striker like them. The title will definitely go in Emirates direction.
Arsenal could bring Gokeres back by signing ‘best winger in the country’
An international game-changer could be exactly the player Arsenal need to let Gokeres go.
