Charles Watts from Goal thinks the Gunners will try replacing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with one of Odsonne Edouard (Celtic), Moussa Dembele (Lyon) or Jonathan David (Genk). None come across as ready to do that and here's why.
Odsonne Edouard
Most-heavily discussed in the media among the three, Edouard even got a separate Sky Sports breakdown, with his strong and weak points analysed.
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He seems prolific enough (35 goals in 55 league matches) but looks much closer to Alexandre Lacazette in frame and playing style. He's not particularly quick and it will be a massive step-up from the Scottish Premiership to EPL - especially if we ask him to start scoring around 25 goals every season.
We haven't seen a much more experienced Lacazette do that and we doubt highly Edouard will accomplish what the French striker couldn't.
Certainly a more intriguing option, however, he's just around two years further down the line than Edouard. He left Celtic two years ago to join Lyon, netting 31 goals in 60 appearances since then.
He is closer in profile to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but, just like with Edouard, we are wary of the adaptation period that'll surely come into play. If Nicolas Pepe, who had an even better season with Lille than Dembele with Lyon, couldn't replicate his form, it'd be too much to expect the same from Moussa -who's just about hovering near 'acceptable' ratio for a striker anyway.
Jonathan David
We are not sure what's he doing on that list as David is much more of an attacking midfielder and should be mentioned as a potential replacement for Mesut Ozil at best, but not for Aubameyang.
However, the 20-year-old is not ready for the Premier League by his own confession, admitting he should play in the Bundesliga first. He's had a prolific season in Belgium (18 goals and 8 assists in 27 games) but the league really cannot be compared to the EPL in terms of pace and physicality.
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