Mikel Arteta ruthlessly axed staff member at Arsenal after private disagreement over player

Arsenal plan to back Arteta in transfer window - here's what they needArsenal plan to back Arteta in transfer window - here's what they needA quality striker

Arsenal are likely to be in the market for a striker. Havertz, while not an out-and-out striker, scored 16 times last season following a £65m move from Chelsea — 10 of those goals coming in his last 20 games.

Havertz’s form was so good he kept Gabriel Jesus out of the side for large swathes of the second half of the season.

Arsenal are not, however, expected to make a move for Brentford’s Ivan Toney – set for a big move this summer – and are instead eyeing a younger striker who Arteta can work with. It has been reported they are interested in Benjamin Sesko, the 20-year-old who scored 14 times for RB Leipzig last season, who is said to have a £56m release clause valid until the end of June.

Arteta would not be drawn on his exact transfer plans but Arsenal’s need for a striker is an open secret.

“Kai Havertz has done well and Gabriel Jesus has probably not played at a level which we expected when he left Man City,” said ex-Man City defender Micah Richards.

“If you’re looking on how they can improve they need to get a striker who can score all type of goals, even when Erling Haaland has not played at his best he has scored goals.”

 Havertz of Arsenal celebrates scoring his team's third goal with teammate Declan Rice during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Chelsea FC at Emirates Stadium on April 23, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Kai Havertz impressed but Arsenal need an out-and-out goalscorer (Photo: Getty)

Bukayo Saka is Arsenal’s joint top-scorer with 16 goals and while Havertz and Leandro Trossard have both made it into double figures domestically, an out-and-out goalscorer seems like an obvious – if expensive – addition.

Get 100 points

The top of the Premier League has never been a steeper challenge, literally. Nottingham Forest stayed up with a lowest-ever points total for a non-relegated side of 32 points, while Liverpool’s 82 points in third would have won them the title eight years ago.

Arteta was part of the coaching team that helped City earn a mammoth 100 points in 2018 and says he knows “what the level is” required to achieve it.

“We are on the right path, in the right journey and to see the evolution so quickly happening, I haven’t seen it before,” Arteta added.

“So we are on the right trajectory, now we need really to put the teeth and bite into it because we really want more.”

Bring the noise

Criticism of Arsenal fans has not been in short supply since the move from the closeness of Highbury to the more expansive Emirates Stadium. However, earlier this season Martin Keown told i it had become a “cauldron of noise” and it lived up to that title on the final day, even though the title was so far from reality for much of the game.

Afterwards, Arteta insisted that the “only way” to improve was for the Arsenal faithful to keep demanding more of their team.

“We are there and they [Man City] took it away from us,” Arteta said.

“It’s the second season so there’s only one way to do it: you have to be more determined, you have to be more ambitious, we need to have a lot of courage and push every limit and everything that we have, because that’s the next step.”