Unfortunately for Arsenal, their striker injury crisis has come at a time when the Hale End Academy has little to offer to Mikel Arteta in terms of a number nine.
Arteta has included 22-year-old Nathan Butler-Oyedeji on Arsenal’s bench ever since losing Kai Havertz to a season-ending hamstring injury.
However, it seems fair to conclude that Arteta doesn’t have a ton of faith in Butler-Oyedeji as a number nine, a forward who is fairly diminutive in stature and has often featured as winger for the academy side.
Of course, Chido Obi also left the club for Manchester United last year, a 17-year-old who might now be starting regularly for Arsenal amid this injury crisis.
Either way, Arteta doesn’t currently have an obvious solution to Arsenal’s predicament, which perhaps demonstrates a mistake which he and Edu Gaspar made in the summer.
Arsenal sold Mika Biereth too early as striker continues to score for Monaco
Following a remarkable season out on loan last term, Arsenal decided to sell Mika Biereth for £4m to Sturm Graz last summer.
In total, Biereth scored 15 goals in 37 games across loan spells at Motherwell and Sturm Graz last season, including three strikes in the Europa Conference League.
As a result, Arsenal decided to sell the then 21-year-old, which looked like a fairly sensible decision at the time.
However, when the Gunners then failed to replace Eddie Nketiah who also left north London, Arteta’s side did appear a little bit short in terms of attacking numbers.
And it’s safe to say that Arsenal’s decision to sell Biereth now appears like it came a little too soon, a talent they might have been better off handing a new contract before loaning him out again.
Only six-months after leaving Arsenal, Sturm Graz then sold Biereth for a significant profit to AS Monaco in Ligue 1 where the striker has already scored 10 goals in seven games, including three hat-tricks.
Now, in total this season, Biereth has 24 goals in 35 games, ludicrous numbers at any level.
Jamal Musiala sends two-word message to Mika Biereth after latest hat-trick
Biereth scored three goals in a 79 minute appearance against Stade Reims on Friday evening, a level of performance which is becoming a habit.
And after taking home another matchball, Biereth took to Instagram to celebrate his success, a striker who Arsenal would surely love to still have on their books.
Bayern Munich forward Jamal Musiala was among those to reply – a childhood friend of Biereth’s.
Arsenal have been linked with Musiala themselves recently, and the forward actually wrote ‘teach me’ on Biereth’s Instagram post, a striker who is now proving himself in one of Europe’s top leagues.
And on reflection, Arsenal would have been better advised to continue to loan out Biereth this season rather than cashing in for £4m, a sum that doesn’t make a big difference for the Gunners in reality.
And were Biereth still on Arsenal’s books, he would have been an excellent option to recall in January, a tale of what could have been.
