Premier League giants Arsenal have joined the race for £25 million PSV Eindhoven forward Cody Gakpo as Mikel Arteta plans for life without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, as reported by FootMercato.
The Arsenal manager is a disciplinarian at heart and Aubameyang’s rather lax approach to timekeeping always looked likely to rub the Spaniard up the wrong way.
The £55 million striker has not been seen in a Gunners shirt since early December, dropped from the first-team picture after what Arsenal labelled ‘his latest disciplinary breach’.
And after Aubameyang was left out of Arsenal’s the warm weather training camp in Dubai, the chances of the 32-year-old forcing his way back into Arteta’s plans look decidedly slim.
Arteta deserves credit for sticking to his guns. For far too long, Arsenal have allowed ill-discipline to fester on and off the pitch. Arteta wants to change that.
But with Arsenal failing to score in each of their last four games, Arteta must find a way to thrive without the club’s most reliable finisher.
According to The Athletic, the London giants are stepping up their pursuit of a new number nine before Monday’s transfer deadline.
Finding one, though, is easier said than done.
Who will replace Aubameyang at Arsenal?
Arsenal agreed a £60 million-plus fee with Fiorentina for Dusan Vlahovic in November. But, two months later, arguably Europe’s most coveted striker is on his way to Juventus.
Everton are never going to sell Dominic Calvert-Lewin with the relegation zone creeping up behind them. And Alexander Isak, with a £76 million release clause in his contract, is simply too expensive.
That’s where Gakpo comes in.
According to FM, the four-time Dutch international will cost around £25 million. A fraction of the fee Arsenal would have to pay for Vlahovic, Isak, Calvert-Lewin or even Espanyol’s Raul de Tomas.
Gakpo is not a classic number nine a la Calvert-Lewin or Vlahovic. The 22-year-old has more in common with an Isak or an Aubameyang; quick, flexible and at his most explosive and effective when drifting in from the left-hand side.
He’s scored 10 goals and set up 11 more in 28 PSV games this season.
“Gakpo will not stay in Eindhoven forever,” PSV director John de Jong said this week.
The jet-heeled Dutchman is also a target for Liverpool and Manchester City.
“He will go to a top club in a top league in the future.”
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