Arsenal fans may have been disappointed by the lack of action on transfer deadline day, but Mikel Arteta’s side showed just over 24 hours later that they are in good hands.
Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Chelsea was far from a classic, but the home fans inside the Emirates Stadium didn’t care one bit.
They are in the finals. It’s the first final in six years, the first since the horrific season of the coronavirus pandemic, and the first since lifting the FA Cup.
It’s surprising considering the Gunners haven’t won any major honors since that sunny day at Wembley. Arsenal have come a long way in recent years, but they have long been bridesmaids. The highlight event, held at the end of March, is a chance for brides to make a difference.
No matter what happens between now and the end of the season, there is still a sense that Arteta needs an elite centre-forward to take the team forward. They have put in a great performance, but their top scorer is Victor Goqueres with just 11 points. His struggles since joining from Sporting have been well documented.
Does anyone like Julian Alvarez?
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Last summer, Andrea Berta’s mission was clear. He needed to sign a striker, preferably one with a wealth of goals. Well, in theory, there was no better option than Gokeres.
The Swede became the most prolific striker in Europe’s top flight last season, ultimately finishing the 2024-25 campaign with 54 goals in 52 appearances.
It hasn’t been easy at Arsenal, but he has been off and on, drawing criticism for his heavy touch and slow play. Yet, until Tuesday’s rather anonymous performance, he was in the best form of his Gunners career, scoring four goals in his last six games.
So Alvarez feels like something is needed. Reports in January began to link the Argentine with a move to the Emirates, and some sources say talks are already underway over a summer move.
The problem is that Arsenal will need to come up with a sum of money, perhaps £80 million, which doesn’t seem very wise after a year on from signing Gokeres. That said, the jury is still out on their big summer catch, with Alvarez already proving himself in English football.
Currently at Atlético Madrid, a deal that Berta actually brokered during his time in the Spanish capital, it was at City that Berta really became famous, scoring 36 goals in 103 appearances. It’s certainly not an incredible number, but his form since joining Atleti has been impressive.
Journalist Roy Nemar suggested last season that he was “the best forward in the world” and, truth be told, few would argue with that. The Argentina international, who plays in Atlético’s red and white stripes, has found the net 40 times in 88 games, scoring a goal every 158 minutes he is on the field.
He would be an exceptional signing, but Arteta needs to test Kai Havertz at the top before making a decision.
Arsenal’s Julian Alvarez solution
If Arsenal sign another striker in the summer, one of them will feel the need to leave. The next few months will therefore be crucial for the front line players of Arteta’s side.
Gokeres will of course be given more time, but Gabriel Jesus is likely skating on thin ice despite his relatively impressive comeback from a torn ACL. In particular, he scored two goals at San Siro against Inter Milan in the Champions League, leaving an outstanding performance.
Arsenal striker in 2026 | ||
|---|---|---|
player | game | the goal |
Gokeres | 9 | 4 |
Havertz | 5 | 2 |
Jesus | 9 | 3 |
However, he earns quite a bit of money in the English capital, reportedly earning an estimated £265,000 a week, making him one of the highest-paid players in the entire Premier League. He is also Arsenal’s third highest paid player. Havertz is the second-highest earner on £280,000 a week.
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Premier League players earn huge amounts of money from their performances.
The German still has many years left at the club and his form throughout the final stages of 2025/26 could influence where Arsenal spend the summer.
Since returning to full fitness at the start of the year, he has performed exceptionally well, particularly in recent weeks. Havertz returned to the starting lineup last week in Europe, scoring and providing an assist against Kairat Almaty.
His performance against Leeds didn’t inspire the same excitement, but his cameo against Chelsea reminded supporters of how good he is and how important he actually is to Arteta’s system.
It was Havertz who scored the winning goal. When Rice came on, he took a beautiful first touch, danced around Robert Sanchez and smashed the ball into an empty net. The Arsenal players, including the substitutes, rushed to his side and decided to advance to the final.
Although Havertz and Alvarez are different, they share some important similarities. Not only are they happy with scoring goals, they are also good chance creators and enjoy the role of second striker. After all, Paul Merson described him a few years ago as a “Berkamp-like player”, and he was probably one of the best players we’ve seen in the Premier League in terms of playing directly behind the striker, rather than as an absolute number nine. Thierry Henry will attest to that.
They are not typical strikers behind the scenes like Gokeres, but they link play, bring other players into the game, and contribute to more phases of play.
Perhaps the classic example of this happened during Argentina’s successful 2022 World Cup campaign. While Álvarez was chosen as number nine, Lionel Messi’s lack of defensive ability meant the former Man City player was often dropped back into midfield to help out in defense and provide an extra body in times of possession.
Arsenal’s collective defensive efforts are very evenly divided and executed, but the role mimics Havertz’s at Arsenal. He won’t play the last shoulder, but he will hold things up, come deeper and collect the ball, lead the press and help the defense.
Perhaps that’s why the Gunners have struggled to play with a more traditional striker in Gokeres. That’s not what they’ve become accustomed to in recent years. Alvarez may be able to offer more play at the back than Havertz, but the 26-year-old’s positional flexibility and adaptability are top-notch. He will be an extraordinary player, but perhaps they already have some of his main German qualities.
The market will definitely be very interesting for Arsenal this summer.
£45m star played his best game ever in an Arsenal shirt against Chelsea
Arsenal defeated Chelsea 4-2 on aggregate to reach their first major final in six years.
