BREAKING: Arsenal have just tabled a bonker deal of over £70M to sign ‘Deadly’ striker who has a very similar profile to Erling Halaand- Player is aware of Arsenal’s interest and he’s more than keen to be in Arsenal’s history book

BREAKING: Arsenal have just tabled a bonker deal of over £70M to sign ‘Deadly’ striker who has a very similar profile to Erling Halaand- Player is aware of Arsenal’s interest and he’s more than keen to be in Arsenal’s history book

Offer ready: Arsenal target last-gasp move for £70m Nketiah upgrade

Arsenal have got their Premier League campaign off to a brilliant start this season thanks to impressive back-to-back wins against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa.

However, with their next fixture scheduled for Saturday lunchtime, the focus of many fans has switched to the club’s transfer dealings, and so far, there has been less to get excited about on that front.

Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori and Spanish midfielder Mikel Merino remain the only officially announced additions to the first team this summer. However, Edu Gaspar and Co have been busy working on several departures, including Eddie Nketiah’s reported £30m move to Crystal Palace.

Interestingly, the Englishman’s proposed move to South London and the hole in the squad he’ll leave may have inspired the board to act, as recent reports have now linked the club with a player who’d be his dream replacement.

Arsenal transfer news
According to a recent report from Football Transfers, Arsenal are very interested in Brighton & Hove Albion youngster Evan Ferguson.

In fact, the report claims that the Gunners are now lining up a move for the 19-year-old and ‘are ready to make an offer to Brighton’ for his services.

However, there are two significant barriers to the North Londoners getting their man: the £70m fee the Seagulls want and the interest from title rivals Manchester City.

In all, it could prove to be a costly and complicated transfer to get over the line, but given Ferguson’s sky-high potential, it is worth pursuing, especially as he’d be a dream upgrade on Nketiah.

How Ferguson compares to Nketiah
Okay, so the first thing to clear up is that at his age and within the context of Nketiah being sold to Palace, Arsenal will not be looking towards Ferguson to be a starter this season, or even next season, regardless of the price.

Yes, he would likely feature in plenty of games and get plenty of chances to show his quality, but it seems unlikely that Arteta would throw a teenager who hasn’t got a ton of first-team experience into the deep end, especially with a title on the line.

However, the young “superstar”, as dubbed by former professional Danny Murphy, could be the perfect man to replace the Gunners’ number 14 and become an excellent backup striker for the next couple of years while he continues to develop into the world-class centre-forward so many seem to believe he’s destined to be.

With that said, how does his output from the last two campaigns stack up against the player he could be set to replace?

Interestingly, while he was slightly less effective last season, he was far more so in the campaign prior. Overall, he’s racked up 16 goals and four assists in 61 appearances in that time, equating to a respectable average of a goal involvement every 3.05 games.

In contrast, the Palace-bound dynamo scored 15 goals and provided five assists in 76 appearances in the same period, meaning he maintained a slightly worse average of a goal involvement every 3.8 games.

While you cannot extrapolate too much from this, it is encouraging to see that the young Irishman has already outperformed the Arsenal ace in recent seasons, despite playing for a weaker team and being significantly younger.

Ultimately, if Arteta wants to ensure his next backup striker is better than Nketiah today and has the potential to be a first-teamer in the future, then he could do a lot worse than Ferguson. Therefore, Edu and Co should do their best to get this deal over the line.