In an effort to find a striker they’re happy with, Arsenal are turning to the Bundesliga and Mainz, hoping to sign their Hungarian striker, Adam Szalai.
According to the Bild in Germany, Arsenal are the first club outside of the Bundesliga to join in the chase after the 25 year old striker, who has scored nine league goals in 17 matches this season. Dortmund and Wolfsburg are also interested in him.
Szalai himself has said nothing about any interests in him, but his club are looking for a €20 million offer for Szalai, who was part of the Real Madrid B setup between 2007-2010, but never broke through to the first team.
There is definitely no interest. For no amount of money would we sell him now. But if someone came to us with €20 million, maybe things will be different…
Arsenal have only one true striker in their squad – Olivier Giroud, who hasn’t exactly been a great success so far this season. Theo Walcott wants to be the other striker, but I’m not sure Wenger is prepared to give him the role full time, wasting him sometimes on the wing just because that’s where he used to play well. Gervinho, who enjoyed some starts as the striker early in the season, isn’t in anyone’s plans at the moment.
While Szalai is another impressive striker, at least physically, paying for much for a player who has yet to play a full season for a senior team and hasn’t crossed the 10 goals in a season mark since the beginning of his career is risky. Just like paying quite a lot for someone like Olivier Giroud, who has had only one good season so far in the Ligue 1, good enough to earn him a ticket to Arsenal, not exactly justifying the deal so far.
While Szalai, 6’4 (1.93) might be some potential scorer who has been misused up to this point in his career, there’s a very good chance that he’s just another mediocre forward enjoying a good season, but doesn’t have what it takes to help Arsenal progress into the next level.