Arsenal have been scouting the Serie A market ahead of a potential summer move, with a pair of strikers thought to be on the Gunners’ radar.
Mikel Arteta’s side have defied plenty of expectations this season, currently sitting in 4th place with a game in hand over Tottenham below them, and the Gunners seem to be in pole position to finish in the final Champions League place come the end of this campaign.
However, it has not all been plain sailing, and the striker situation embodies that fact. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, first choice at the start of the season, has departed for Barcelona on a free transfer after falling out with the hierarchy, leaving just Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah as options to lead the line for the remainder of the season.
Neither are good enough to take Arsenal to the next level, and both are out of contract in the summer and seem unlikely to extend their stay at the Emirates Stadium under current conditions.
It is for this reason that Arsenal looked to make a move for then-Fiorentina striker Dusan Vlahovic in January, only for the Serbian hitman to move to Juventus instead. Now, however, they seem set to return to the Italian market.
Osimhen and Martinez scouted
Now, as per CBS Sport, Arsenal have been scouting a range of forward options, with both Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Lautaro Martinez of Inter Milan of particular interest.
Martinez was of interest to the Gunners last summer, but signed a new contract with Inter in October, tying him to Inter until 2026. It would likely require a massive fee to change that. Osimhen, meanwhile, would require a similarly astronomical fee to prise him away from Napoli, with the Nigerian having joined the Southern Italy side for a fee of 80 million euros in 2020 and only having improved since.
Whether or not they could prove the answer to Arsenal’s striker woes is another matter.
