The North Londoners were in a sorry state before the international break, with just one win in their previous five games, but since then, they've beaten Nottingham Forest in the Premier League and Sporting CP in the Champions League.
Moreover, with eight goals in these games, it looks like the club's troubles in front of goal have subsided somewhat, but there is always room for improvement.
That seems to be the club's opinion anyway, as recent reports have now linked one of the most exciting strikers in Europe with a move to the club, a striker who's been compared to Harry Kane and could spell big trouble for Gabriel Jesus' future in N5.
Arsenal transfer news
According to recent reports in Italy, Arsenal have maintained their interest in Atalanta striker Mateo Retegui.
Retegui-Leeds-Premier-league-Gnonto-transfer
The report claims that alongside the Gunners, there are now 'many big clubs' keen on signing the Italian marksman next year.
This increased interest in the exciting forward has unsurprisingly increased the price tag on his head, and according to the report, it has now more than doubled from €22m to at least €45m, which is around £38m.
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In all, signing Retegui could prove complicated and costly, but given his form this season and the comparisons to Kane, it would be well worth it, even if it would be bad news for Jesus.
Retegui's comparison to Kane and Jesus
So, before we look at how Retegui stacks up against Jesus, who he'd surely be competing with for the place just behind Kai Havertz, where has this comparison to Kane come from?
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Well, it stems from FBref, which compares players in similar positions in the Champions League, then creates a list of the ten most comparable players for each one, and in this instance, has concluded that the Englishman is the fifth most similar striker to the Italian this season.
To better understand how this conclusion was reached, we can examine the underlying metrics in which the pair ranked closely, metrics including but not limited to non-penalty goals plus assists, shots on target, shot-creating actions, blocks, clearances and carries, all per 90.
On top of these statistical parallels, there are more surface-level similarities between the pair, such as the fact they're both right-footed and the Englishman is 6 foot 2 while the Italian is 6 foot 1.
However, while this comparison to arguably the best striker in the world is undoubtedly encouraging, how does the former Genoa ace stack up to Jesus?
Well, from a pure output perspective, it's not even close as in his 16 appearances this season, totalling 579 minutes, the former Manchester City star has scored one goal and provided one assist, equating to an average of a goal involvement every eight games, or every 289.5 minutes.
In contrast, Atalanta's "lethal" marksman, as dubbed by Italian manager Luciano Spalletti, has scored 14 goals and provided three assists in 19 appearances, totalling 1153 minutes, meaning he's averaging a goal involvement every 1.11 games, or every 67.8 minutes - talk about efficiency.
Ultimately, there just isn't a competition between Retegui and Jesus, so should Arsenal have the chance to sign the San Fernando-born machine in 2025, they must take it, and who knows, he might even be able to displace Havertz from the starting number nine role.
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