Since taking the manager’s job almost six years ago, Mikel Arteta has got a lot right at Arsenal.
The Spaniard has taken a team that felt destined to fall further down the Premier League table and turned them into serious challengers.
Moreover, in addition to overhauling the culture at the club, he also completely revamped the squad, getting more transfers right than wrong.
However, as with all managers, he has also made his share of mistakes in the market, and one of his more recent ones feels like the sort of signing Unai Emery would’ve made.
Emery vs Arteta in the transfer market
During his short 18-month reign at Arsenal, Emery signed just 12 players, with two of those being on loan and one being a free.
Many fans and pundits alike saw the Swede as the goalscoring number nine that the Gunners had been crying out for, but so far, he has looked unconvincing, to say the least.
For example, in 18 appearances, the former Sporting CP “powerhouse” forward, as dubbed by analyst Ben Mattinson, has scored just six goals, and while that is not terrible, it’s not enough from a £63m striker.
Moreover, unlike Gabriel Jesus, or even Kai Havertz for that matter, the former Coventry City star doesn’t offer an awful lot off the ball, nor is he adept at helping craft chances.
In fact, this was something Sky Sports’ Gary Neville picked up on earlier in the season when he called him a “misfit” because, unlike a lot of his teammates, “he’s not technically amazing.”
This dual problem of not getting into goalscoring areas enough and also offering little in build-up play was on show against Brugge, when in 62 minutes of action, he failed to get in on the actiona, took just 12 touches and played four passes.
With all that said, there is clearly a player in there – we saw it for that brilliant goal against Leeds United earlier in the season – but if he doesn’t improve quickly, it feels like a matter of when and not if he falls to third in the pecking order.
Therefore, while it might sound harsh, Gyokeres is looking more like a signing Arsenal would have made under Emery than Arteta.