\u201cWe want to reach another level,\u201d Mikel Arteta declared after watching Arsenal come two miscued penalties away from a first Champions League title in the club\u2019s history. That ambition, and the reality of the club\u2019s recent spending, frames a summer in which significant attacking additions are reportedly on the table.<\/p>\n
BBC Sport list Bournemouth\u2019s Junior Kroupi, Aston Villa playmaker Morgan Rogers and Atl\u00e9tico Madrid\u2019s talisman Juli\u00e1n Alvarez as three players on Arsenal\u2019s \u201ctransfer wishlist.\u201d To recruit all three would cost an obscene $376.7 million (\u00a3280 million) by the report\u2019s estimation. Kroupi and Rogers are each given valuations of $107.6 million apiece, while Alvarez is expected to command a fee in the region of $160 million.<\/p>\n
Recruiting any one of the three looks plausible; recruiting two or all three would require major departures to balance the books. The tactical permutations on offer, however, make clear why the targets are attractive. Proposed lineups include:<\/p>\n
(4-4-1-1): Saka, Rice, Lewis-Skelly, Trossard; Alvarez; Gy\u00f6keres.
\n(4-2-3-1): Rice, Lewis-Skelly; Saka, \u00d8degaard, Martinelli; Alvarez.
\n(4-3-3): \u00d8degaard, Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Alvarez.<\/p>\n
Alvarez arrives with a reputation for versatility. The delivery driver who coached Alvarez as a child did an excellent job. The wriggly ball of energy was an instant hit at Manchester City and scored at least 20 goals in each of his two seasons at Atl\u00e9tico Madrid. He can drift from the left, link with a fixed striker or lead the line himself. Barcelona have shown sustained interest, but the Catalan club\u2019s ham-fisted approach, which has only served to infuriate Atl\u00e9tico, could alter the market dynamic.<\/p>\n
(4-4-1-1): Saka, Rice, Lewis-Skelly, Trossard; Kroupi; Gy\u00f6keres.
\n(4-2-3-1): Rice, Lewis-Skelly; Saka, \u00d8degaard, Martinelli; Kroupi.
\n(4-3-3): \u00d8degaard, Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Kroupi.<\/p>\n
Kroupi is a 19-year-old with a high work rate and a record-breaking debut season. He scored 13 goals from an xG of 8.4 and averaged an xG of 0.36 per 90 last term; only Antoine Semenyo out-performed his xG by a larger margin in the Premier League last season, per Opta. Morgan Rogers is viewed as a potential partner for Declan Rice as Arteta seeks players who can operate across multiple positions, a philosophy linked in the draft to the Ajax and Netherlands teams from the 1970s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arteta wants progress as Arsenal weigh a $376.7m wishlist that could reshape their attack and depth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1303,1647],"tags":[1162,1615,826],"class_list":["post-14166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-arsenal-news","category-champions-league","tag-analytics","tag-andoni-iraola","tag-bukayo-saka"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}