Arsenal are hoping to challenge for the Premier League title once again this year, and despite impressing in the early phases of the 2023/24 campaign, there is a sense that Mikel Arteta's side are not quite reaching the same heights as last year.
Arsenal are second in the top-flight with 27 points from 12 matches, having levelled with table-toppers Manchester City – who face Chelsea later today – after defeating Burnley, but have been dented by injuries to key players over the past few months.
Gabriel Jesus has been fraught with setbacks since the summer, having suffered an injury-hit debut year in London last year, and is unlikely to feature again until December.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher argued last month that the Gunners will need to invest in a new striker in January if they are to vanquish Manchester City and claim their first Premier League trophy in two decades.
This is probably true; while Arsenal are buffered by Eddie Nketiah – who has scored five goals from nine league starts – he probably doesn't boast the full package required in a title race of this calibre, with such high-level opposition surrounding the Emirates Stadium side.
The 24-year-old was branded as "anonymous" for his part in Arsenal's recent defeat against Newcastle United, highlighting that flaws that overrule the hat-trick he bagged against Sheffield United a few weeks back.
He's decent; he does a job. But he's not the world-class talent in the making that Arteta will be eager to get his mitts on, and that is why work is needed in the transfer market in 2024, with technical director Edu reportedly lining up an offer for a player overseas.
Arsenal transfer news – Dusan Vlahovic
According to Football Transfers – as reported earlier this week – Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic is still Arteta's preferred No. 9 to bolster his side's pursuit of illustrious success, having rejected Arsenal in January 2022 when departing Fiorentina.
Rated at £70m by CIES Football Observatory, the Serbian striker opted to remain in Italy and completed a £67m transfer to Turin, where his career has not quite taken off amid Juve's struggles.
Still only 23, Vlahovic fits the profile of forward that the Gunners' Spaniard manager wishes to sign, and it is believed that he would come at a more affordable price than other targets such as Nigerian goal machine Victor Osimhen and Brentford's Ivan Toney.
Dusan Vlahovic's style of play
Vlahovic announced himself emphatically with Fiorentina, scoring 49 goals and supplying eight assists from only 108 outings at the club before his cross-country transfer.
Prodigious beginnings, but after moving north, Vlahovic struggled to impress last year and scored just 14 times from 41 matches across all competitions in his first full term at the prestigious outfit.
Journalist Emmet Gates remarked that he is "a Ferrari being driven like a Fiat", with the Old Lady failing to bring out his best qualities at the Allianz Stadium; with 13 goals from 23 international appearances too, he is undoubtedly capable of achieving big things in the future.
This season, Vlahovic started to rekindle the full force of his attacking ability and plundered four goals and an assist from as many Serie A matches, though injury has since restricted him to just two starts since.
Nonetheless, there are promising signs that he is starting to reclaim the goalscoring touch that earned him such high acclaim with La Viola.
(per 90)
Goals
xG
Assists
Shots
SoT
Prog. Passes
Prog. Carries
SCA
23/24
0.66
0.66
0.16
3.93
1.48
1.48
1.31
2.95
22/23
0.47
0.45
0.09
3.04
0.93
1.87
1.03
2.10
*Statistics sourced via FBref
Take just a glance at the table above and it becomes clear that he is already performing at a superior rate to last term: he's more clinical; more productive; Vlahovic is also proving to be more effective with his shot-creating actions per 90 despite progressing the ball less frequently.
That metric, however, is likely made redundant given that the 6 foot 2 star is carrying the ball upfield with greater regularity, meaning that he is not going to spray passes from deep as often.
It highlights some promising improvements, and there is a sense that, surrounded by the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard in north London, he would take his development to the next level, having been described as a “monster” by journalist Carlo Garganese.
Given that Arsenal would be securing his signature from Juventus, it could even be a repeat of possibly the greatest transfer in the club's modern history – bringing Thierry Henry to Highbury.
How Dusan Vlahovic compares to Thierry Henry
Now, it's somewhat unlikely that Vlahovic would reach the same heights as Henry in the Premier League, but then there is a case to be made that he is the greatest striker since the modern division's inception in 1992.
The legendary Frenchman is undoubtedly one of Arsenal's most iconic and revered players of all time, most probably the greatest forward, and was instrumental in Arsene Wenger's most illustrious period during his long reign at the outfit.
Achievement
Goals
Most Goals (1st)
228
Most Premier League Goals (1st)
175
Most League Goals (1st)
175
Most European Goals (1st)
42
Most Champions League Goals (1st)
35
*Sourced via Arsenal.com
Hailed as 'The King' during his time in the Premier League, it all started when Arsenal secured Henry's services from Juventus for a club-record £11m in 1999 (how things have changed).
Last year, Henry was voted as the Premier League's greatest-ever player, beating the division's all-time top scorer Alan Shearer and generational superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to the prize.
Notably winning two league titles and three FA Cups during his time under Wenger's guidance, Henry was electric-paced, fleet-footed and incisive, in many ways redefining the way that forwards conducted their business on English shores.
Now, of course, times have changed and football is in a different place, but he was undoubtedly a trailblazer and paved the way for many future forwards.
Vlahovic, while certainly not cut from the same cloth, is quick and graceful, with an innate eye for goal and excellent positional awareness, and when he gets going, he is simply "unstoppable", according to talent scout Jacek Kulig.
He's the focal frontman that Arsenal need, and he could even bounce off the more creative attacking outlet in Jesus in a partnership like Henry and Dennis Bergkamp's – that's the hope at least.
Arsenal must make their move and provide Arteta with the centre-forward he has been searching for; it's the final piece of the puzzle and the answer to the seemingly unstoppable force that is Manchester City, blocking the path to glory.
