Arsenal leading race to sign £58m “monster”

After a few miserable weeks, the last few days have been a breath of fresh air for Arsenal fans.

On Tuesday night, Mikel Arteta’s side demolished PSV Eindhoven 7-1 in the Champions League, and now it looks as if the club will be bringing in Andrea Berta as their new Sporting Director.

The Italian previously worked for Atlético Madrid, where he helped bring in a plethora of incredible players like Antoine Griezmann, Rodri, Marcos Llorente and most recently, Julian Alvarez.

The latter has been a force of nature for the side this season, and according to reports, Berta could sign Arsenal’s own version of the Argentine in the summer.

Arsenal’s striker search

According to a recent report from journalist Graeme Bailey, Arsenal are one of several sides keen on signing RB Leipzig star Benjamin Sesko in the summer.

In fact, the report has revealed that the Gunners and Chelsea remain firmly at the head of the queue of interested parties, which includes Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Aston Villa.

In yet more good news, the report has revealed that while the Slovenian international has a release clause worth £58m in his contract, Leipzig will allow him to leave for less should the final fee be deemed acceptable to them.

It could still be an expensive and complicated transfer to get over the line for Arsenal, but given Sesko’s ability and potential, it is well worth pursuing, and for Berta, an opportunity to repeat a move reminiscent of the one that saw Alvarez move to Spain last summer.

Why Sesko would be Arsenal’s Alvarez

So, there are really two intertwined reasons as to why bringing Sesko to Arsenal in the summer would be, in a sense, a repeat of his deal to sign Alvarez last year.

The most significant is that, like the Argentine, the Slovenian star is one of the most exciting strikers in European football and has the raw ability to be a real game-changer for the Gunners.

For example, in just 34 appearances this term, totalling 2488 minutes, the 6 foot 5 “monster,” as dubbed by analyst Ben Mattinson, has scored 17 goals and provided five assists.

That means he is currently averaging a goal involvement every 1.54 games, or every 113.09 minutes for a team not having a particularly good season in the Bundesliga.

In comparison, the former Manchester City marksman has done marginally better so far, scoring 22 goals and providing five assists in 41 appearances, totalling 2683 minutes, for Atléti.

In other words, the Calchín-born star is averaging a goal involvement every 1.51 games, or every 99.37 minutes.

The second reason the moves could mirror one another is that while the World Cup winner is just over three years older than the Leipzig star, both are young enough to become era-defining forwards for their respective sides and gold-standard acquisitions by Berta.

Ultimately, it could be an expensive transfer to get over the line, but it does look like Sesko could be one of the next great strikers in European football and deliver for Arsenal next season in the same way Alvarez is for Atlético this year.

Therefore, should he get the job, Berta must do all he can to bring him to the Emirates as soon as possible.

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