Last summer, Andrea Berta spent the best part of £250 million getting his Arsenal team ready to win the Premier League title.
Enough was enough. The Gunners need to win now and most of the deal was aimed at that. Instead of acquiring project striker Benjamin Sesco, they acquired Victor Gokeres, a proven goal machine.
Similarly, Eberechi Eze and Martin Zubimendi performed at an incredibly high level for Crystal Palace and Real Sociedad over the years.
Well, it looks like they have no intention of slowing down in their pursuit of proven players. Berta is ready to hit the transfer market again.
Arsenal to pursue big-money forward this summer
A year ago, Berta’s main task was to bring a new striker to the Emirates Stadium, and he achieved that by luring Goqueres from Portugal’s Sporting CP.
The Swede proved to be one of the most threatening centre-forwards in all of Europe during his time in Lisbon, finishing last season with an impressive 54 goals in 52 games.
Not everything may have gone well since the former Coventry City man returned to England, but he was a highly undervalued signing. Gokeres has scored 21 goals in all competitions. He will end a Premier League title-winning season and a potential Champions League-winning season as top scorer. No one in the world can criticize his ability in front of goal.
But that doesn’t mean Arsenal’s recruitment team should rest on their laurels when the next window opens.
Arsenal’s most expensive contract in history
The Gunners have spent generously in recent years.
According to TEAMtalk, they are planning big moves for two big-money forwards. The first one is Morgan Rogers.
Reports a few days ago suggested initial talks had taken place with the player’s camp, but the new claims indicate Arsenal are “intensifying their interest” in the Aston Villa star.
The Premier League champions are said to be “huge fans” of the England international, with Berta and Mikel Arteta agreeing he is someone the Gunners should try to sign.
Rodgers isn’t the only big name with Julian Alvarez’s name in the spotlight again. The same report outlines that any move by the Villa attacker will not affect plans to sign Alvarez.
The Argentine has been the subject of intense speculation since the end of the season, with Arsenal said to be willing to meet Atletico Madrid’s asking price of £100m. Coincidentally, this is the same amount needed to win Rodgers from Villa Park.
Why Rodgers and Alvarez could become the new Ozil and Sanchez
partnership. They often make or break teams. A few years ago, Arsenal relied on players like Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis to dig themselves out of a hole. The team certainly looked broken then. Among the team that won the title, Gabriel and William Saliba became one of the best defensive duos in Premier League history.
To be honest, up front, I have never seen a more vibrant attacking combination than Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.
Their time in north London both ended controversially. Sanchez left for Manchester United and admitted he regretted the move, while Ozil finally left the Gunners as his power and public interest began to wane. His body language never looked good on the pitch.
But no one doubts the overall performance level. These two are the best players of their time at the Emirates, and signing both Rodgers and Alvarez could finally replace them.
In Ozil’s case, they once had one of the best No. 10s of the modern era, if not the best. After leaving Real Madrid with a ton of assists under his belt, he didn’t slow down when he arrived in English football. In the 2015/16 season, he recorded 19 assists. Only Thierry Henry has scored more goals in a single season for Arsenal, with 20.
Rogers is cut from a slightly different cloth. He has a more progressive and dangerous dribble and can also play wide. But like Ozil, he has a knack for creating chances. In 2024/25, the England star provided 16 assists for his team-mates across all competitions.
Rogers – Career by season | ||
|---|---|---|
season | the goal | assist |
2022/23 | 1 | 1 |
2023/24 | 10 | 9 |
2024/25 | 14 | 16 |
2025/26 | 14 | 12 |
There is every reason to believe that Arteta, who plays the number 10 role at Arsenal, could land the club’s best attacking midfielder since the Ozil era. Sure, skipper Martin Odegaard can unlock defenses in a similar way, but he’s become more injury-prone and his numbers are down.
In Sanchez’s case, there are some very striking similarities between him and Alvarez. Primarily, it is the ability to produce and score goals on an almost equal scale.
It could also be argued that neither player is a full-fledged centre-forward, more of a false number 9-like profile, and as a result is more involved in the build-up than a classic striker.
Alvarez has been a prolific goalscorer for Atleti, scoring 29 goals in 2024/25 and 20 in 2025/26, but he is not only ruthless in front of goal. In fact, in his last spell at Manchester City, the 2023/24 season, the Argentine provided 13 assists.
In that respect, he is in a similar position to Arsenal’s former Chilean player. In his best season in the English capital, 2016-17, he scored an astonishing 30 goals and 15 assists. These were numbers like Henry, who was not only an elite goalscorer, but also an elite chance creator.
Signing both players this summer feels particularly unlikely, but just imagine if Berta could sign them both. Arteta could assemble the club’s most dangerous attack since the days of Ozil and Sanchez.
A better deal than Rodgers: Arsenal considering signing £26m England star
Morgan Rodgers is not the only England player linked with a move to Arsenal this summer.
