Merson ‘doesn’t like’ Arteta considering shock Arsenal star to replace Kai Havertz as striker

Mikel Arteta is reportedly ‘considering’ a left-field option to replace Kai Havertz as the club’s first-choice number nine amid the Arsenal injury crisis.

Arsenal were looking to land a new striker in January but didn’t try all that hard, with the sum total of their efforts a derisory £40m bid for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins.

And it’s come back to bite them, with Kai Havertz now joining fellow forwards Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka on the sidelines having torn his hamstring while on their Dubai training camp.

One of Raheem Sterling, Ethan Nwaneri or Leandro Trossard is expected to be drafted in as No.9 for the rest of the season, but The Sun claim £32m summer signing Mikel Merino is being ‘considered’ by Arteta as an ‘unexpected option’.

The report states:

‘Probably the most unexpected option on this list, Merino is also allegedly being considered as a potential striker for Arsenal.

‘The midfielder has never played as a No9 professionally but Arteta could give him a chance in the near future.

‘There is talk of the 6ft 2in star using his physique and stature as a makeshift central striker – a little bit like the way Marouane Fellaini was deployed by Manchester United.’

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When asked whether it’s a move that could work for Arsenal, Paul Merson told Sky Sports News: “Not in my book it won’t, not in my book. I don’t like that.

“I’d probably play Sterling up there. I’d give Sterling a couple of games up there and I say that because of his movement.

“He can move, Sterling, and he can spread the team, take them that way. As soon as the game starts becoming compact and tight, it plays into other people’s hands.

“When Arsenal can open the game up and Sterling go that way and spread it and then [Martin] Odegaard can get time on the ball, Nwaneri and Trossard, then I think Arsenal will be alright.

“But if you start playing a false nine and he starts drifting back… he’s not someone who finds a pass, he’s not a Havertz, he’s not going to score goals.

“For me, it’s staring you straight in the eye. Put those three [Leandro Trossard, Ethan Nwaneri, Raheem Sterling] up front and probably just tell them to play wherever they want.

“Manchester City are the only team that have ever played a false nine and that was Manchester City. Everybody’s trying to copy everybody, everybody always seems to be a year behind what Pep Guardiola does, or even more.”

Merson believes Havertz’s devastating injury gives Nwaneri an “unbelievable chance” to step up and make himself a “superstar”.

“I just can’t believe what’s happened, I really can’t,” the former Arsenal and England midfielder added.

“Only time will tell now [how costly not signing a striker in January will be]. If they go and lose the league by one or two or three points then you can sit there and go, ‘If Arsenal had bought a striker…’, but only time will tell.

“If Liverpool had gone and won [against Everton], I don’t care who is playing up front for Arsenal, nine points would have been a long, long, long way for me, unassailable. But now it’s seven. It makes a difference, those two points, and I just think only time will tell.

“Now, Trossard, Nwaneri and Sterling will be the front three, in my opinion. That’s the way it looks like it’s going to be. You’re going to sit down with Sterling and say, ‘Right, you’ve got six, seven games, go out, enjoy it, show us what you’ve got and go out and play’.

“He’s been a bit-part player recently and it’s hard when you’re a bit-part player. You come on or you start and you think, ‘If I don’t do well in the first 30, 40, 50 minutes then I’ll be coming off after 60’, and people think like that.

“It’s hard not to if you know you’re one of the ones who is going to come off. Now he’s got to play and hopefully we see the best of Sterling and you never know. Those three might gel.

“The sky’s the limit for Nwaneri and now he’s going to be in the team on a consistent basis for six or seven games. Who knows? This is what superstars are made of and we never know a superstar until they get a consistent run in the team and he’s got an unbelievable chance.”