Arsenal have suffered a monumental blow to the trophy hopes after learning they will have to manage without forward Kai Havertz for the remainder of the season – though Mikel Arteta is keen to add more cover this summer with a top Serie A striker now targeted.
The Gunners face slipping nine points behind table-toppers Liverpool in the Premier League title race on Wednesday night but are among the eight-seeded sights in the Champions League last-16, where a clash against either AC Milan, PSV, Feyenoord or Juventus awaits for Arsenal.
To have any chance of fighting for what would be a first UCL trophy in their history, Arteta knows he will need a full arsenal of attacking options at his disposal.
However, after already losing Gabriel Jesus to a season-ending ACL injury in January, the Gunners have now lost their second senior striker option in Havertz, too, after the German suffered a torn hamstring injury during the club’s warm-weather training camp out in Dubai.
Confirming the blow, Ornstein posted on X: ‘Kai Havertz set to miss rest of season through injury.
‘Arsenal forward suffered a torn hamstring during training at #AFC camp in Dubai. Unclear if 25yo Germany international will require surgery, but focus is getting fit for 2025-26 campaign.’
The forward, a £65m signing from Chelsea in summer 2023, has been trusted to lead the line for Arsenal this season by Arteta, scoring 15 times and laying on five assists from 34 appearances so far.
But with Havertz now becoming the latest Arsenal attacker to succumb to injury – joining the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and Jesus on the sidelines – Arteta will now have to see through the campaign without a senior striker in his ranks.
And having recognised that failure to sign a new striker in either of the last two transfer windows, reports in Italy claim Arteta has already ‘put in the groundwork’ to bring in a classy reinforcement this summer in the form of Inter’s Marcus Thuram.
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The Gunners have made clear their desire to sign a new striker already this year after seeing a cheeky January bid for Ollie Watkins waved away by an angry Aston Villa.
But whether they go back in for the 29-year-old England striker again in the summer – who we understand did want the move and was left disappointed by Villa’s decision to rebuff the approach – remains subject to some conjecture.
However, the common conception is that Arsenal will instead target alternatives and while reports on Wednesday morning have once again reinforced claims that a move for Benjamin Sesko is in the works, Tuttosport now claim that Arteta and Co have also now put in the groundwork over a deal to bring Thuram to Emirates Stadium.
Per the report, they claim Arsenal have already sounded out the France striker – who has 14 goals and eight assists from 32 games this season – about a summer move to north London. And while the striker has a hefty €85m (£70.8m, $88.2m) release clause, it’s reported that the Gunners hierarchy see his signing as better value for money than, say, an Alexander Isak, who could ultimately cost up to double that price.
However, such a signing would not be able to happen until the summer transfer window officially opens for business, leaving Arteta trying to juggle how best to navigate his way through the current campaign and in light of their crippling injury issues.
Arteta, though, does have three options – albeit all wingers available to him – and the Gunners boss could be forced to field Raheem Sterling off the left-wing, teenager Ethan Nwaneri off the right and with another winger Leandro Trossard as a makeshift centre-forward.
Relief should soon be on the way, though, with Saka due back from his own hamstring injury at the start of March.
It’s a similar situation with Martinelli, though his month-long absence, also with a hamstring injury, means he will unlikely be seen again until mid to late March.
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In addition to Watkins, Arsenal also briefly looked into the possibility of signing Marcus Rashford from Manchester United, though the 60-cap England forward ultimately ended up signing for Aston Villa.
Meanwhile, the Gunners’ hopes of persuading Isak to move to Emirates Stadium have suffered a further setback amid claims by Jamie Carragher that Liverpool could be ready to explore his potential signing and that the Newcastle striker would prefer a move to Anfield.
Elsewhere, Arsenal also face a battle to win the race to sign Martin Zubimendi, whom the Daily Mail claimed last month had ‘virtually agreed’ to join the Gunners this summer.
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