Quantcast
Home   >   Transfer News   >   Arsenal In Talks For Two Strikers + Linked With Barca Ace Pedro

Arsenal In Talks For Two Strikers + Linked With Barca Ace Pedro

By on January 8, 2014

With the January transfer window hotting up, the question on every Arsenal fans lips is; what striker are we going to sign?

A whole host of names are being linked with a move to the Emirates on a daily basis but most newspapers seem in agreement over that Arsene Wenger’s plan is:

The boss is prepared to pay big money to buy the right striker and would ideally like to sign one of his top targets this month, namely Porto’s Jackson Martinez, Bayern Munich’s Mario Mandzukic and Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa.

Costa has a £32m buy-out clause and reports in recent days have suggested we’ve already lodged our interest, but fear a move is virtually impossible due to the fact Madrid are battling with Barcelona for the title and they are still in the Champions League.

Mandzukic is a relatively new name to be linked with us but again Munich are not going to let him go mid-season and he’ll likely leave the Allianz Arena in the summer when Robert Lewandowksi joins.

So, the latest from the Daily Mail is that we’ve re-opened talks with Real Madrid to try and sign Alvaro Morata on loan for the rest of the season.

Madrid are understood to be reluctant to let the 21-year-old leave, so the newspaper suggests we have now made a formal enquiry to Porto for Martinez – who has a £33.2m release clause.

Martinez has netted 12 goals in just 14 games this season and is the far more established of the two strikers. The 27-year-old would be a long-term signing whereas Morata would be considered a short-term option to get us through this season so we can then target the likes of Costa in the summer.

The Mail also state that Wenger was planning on making a big-money move for Barcelona attacker Pedro in the summer, but could now bring forward those plans following Walcott’s injury.

I’m a huge fan of Pedro’s but really don’t see Barca agreeing to sell unless the player hands in a formal transfer request. There have been rumours that he’s not entirely happy with his bit-part role but not many players request to leave the Nou Camp. They are usually pushed, so I’m not getting my hopes up on that one.

But our search for a striker this month is intriguing. Personally, if Costa is unattainable in January then I’d like to see us bring Morata in on loan and make a real push to land Costa in the summer. That would be the idea situation.

Martinez would be a good option, but at a similar price to Costa, he’d be more of a risk in my eyes and it would be worth waiting a few months to land the Atletico Madrid hitman. But let’s see what the next few weeks bring us….

What are your views on our striker search? Who do you think we should buy?

10 Comments