Arsenal could solve Saka crisis by signing £60m "machine" who's truly "unstoppable"

Mikel Arteta's side finally put an end to their Premier League dip with an emphatic 5-1 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, and while fans should be delighted with such a display, the mood has once again soured.

Early on in the first half, club poster boy Bukayo Saka came off with what looked like a hamstring injury, and then yesterday afternoon, it was confirmed that he would be out for "many weeks."

Bukayo-Saka-Arsenal-Palace

Such an injury threatens to derail the club's entire campaign, but should they make the right signings in January, they might be able to keep things ticking over, and the good news is that they were linked with the perfect candidate last month.

Saka's form this season

It's bad enough to lose one of your attackers to injury, but it's a whole other level when the star you lose is unquestionably the team's most important player, which is exactly what Saka is for Arsenal.

saka-arsenal-champions-league

For example, in his 24 appearances across all competitions so far, the Gunners' "future legend", as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has scored nine goals and provided 13 assists, meaning he was averaging a goal involvement every 1.09 games.

Unsurprisingly, this made him both the top scorer and provider of assists in the North Londoners' squad, with the next best attacker being Kai Havertz with 11 goals and three assists.

In short, trying to replace the Hale End icon is almost an impossible task, but that does not mean the club shouldn't try, especially when a player they've already been linked to this year would do an excellent job at chipping in with goals.

The Premier League star who could solve Arsenal's Saka problem

So, to get straight to the point, the player we are talking about is Brentford's goalscoring extraordinaire, Bryan Mbeumo.

Brentford forward Bryan Mbeumo

The good news is that the Gunners were actually linked with the Cameroon international late last month; the bad news is that according to a report from Football Insider in October, the Bees will demand around £60m to sell him in January.

Now, that is undoubtedly an awful lot of money to spend on a player mid-way through a campaign, but given the circumstances and what could be on the line in terms of major honours this season, the club have to spend.

Bryan Mbeumo

With that said, why would Mbeumo be an excellent stand-in for Saka over the coming weeks and months?

Well, firstly, like the Hale Ender, he is a left-footed attacker who primarily plays off the right, and he has done so with aplomb this season.

Mbeumo vs Saka PL 24/25

Player

Mbeumo

Saka

Appearances

17

16

Goals

10

5

Assists

2

10

Goal Involvements per Match

0.70

0.93

All Stats via Transfermarkt

For example, in just 17 league games this year, the 25-year-old "machine," as dubbed by football producer Michael Johnston, has scored ten goals and provided two assists, which isn't a million miles off the Englishman's five goals and ten assists in 16 league appearances.

Furthermore, the "unstoppable" Avallon-born dynamo, as dubbed by Premier League legend Alan Shearer, isn't just getting lucky at the moment either, as in just 25 league games last season he racked up a haul of 15 goals and assists for a team that struggled as well.

Lastly, while the exciting goalscorer would be brilliant cover for the next couple of months, he's also good enough to compete with the Gunners' number seven when he's fit again, and he has the positional versatility to challenge whoever's off the left and down the middle to boot.

Ultimately, apart from the likes of Lamine Yamal and Mohamed Salah, there might not be another winger in world football who could replace Saka at this point in time, but Arsenal have to try.

Bryan Mbeumo celebrates for Brentford

Therefore, of all the options possibly open to them next month, signing the free-scoring Mbeumo from Brentford seems like the best.