Arsenal to ‘sacrifice’ one of two ‘big guns’ to buy Mikel Arteta’s top target

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is likely to have to ‘sacrifice’ either Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli in order to bring in a striker, according to reports.

The Gunners have had a decent season in the Premier League once again but look almost certain to concede the title to Liverpool with 11 matches to play.

Their recent 1-0 defeat to West Ham and 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest has seen Arsenal fall 13 points behind the Reds, who have played one less game than Arteta’s side.

Arsenal have suffered injuries at unfortunate times with Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz both ruled out for the rest of the season, while Bukayo Saka and Martinelli are unlikely to be fit any time soon.

The Gunners attempted to sign a new striker in the January transfer window but eventually gave up towards the end of the window and are now left without a senior centre-forward.

Midfielder Mikel Merino has been played as a makeshift striker recently and Arsenal will be looking to avoid the same scenario happening next season.

Even without their injury crisis, it was a widely-held view that the Gunners still needed a top centre-forward to win the Premier League and other major honours.

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And they plan to do exactly that with the Daily Mirror claiming that Arteta is ‘determined to oversee a major shake-up this summer with a big-name striker and winger on their hit-list’.

It is claimed that Arteta ‘may have to sacrifice one of his big guns to fund a summer rebuild’ with Trossard and Martinelli the two players named that Arsenal ‘will have to offload to get all their business done’.

The Daily Mirror adds:

‘Arsenal do have scope to do big deals this summer both in terms of their Profit and Sustainability Rules and spending power. Arsenal boss Arteta is a huge admirer of Newcastle striker Alexander Isak but more realistically they may go for RB Leipzig centre forward Benjamin Sesko.

‘Sesko may be allowed to go for £55m but Arsenal also want to spend big on other forward options having been caught horribly short with Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka all out injured.

‘The Gunners also want a new left winger which is why Trossard or Martinelli may make way with Athletic Bilbao star Nico Williams top of their list but they are confirmed admirers of Bournemouth ’s Antoine Semenyo. Arsenal are set to say goodbye to Jorginho and Thomas Partey who are out of contract this summer but they have a £51m deal lined up for Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi.

‘But they do want a big shake-up and to do manoeuvring they may also have to offload players with Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko also likely to be surplus to requirements.’

Liverpool legend John Aldridge reckons Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has been “unlucky” with the injuries the Gunners have suffered and reckons the Spaniard should be kept on.

Aldridge told Betano: “I think Mikel Arteta has been unlucky with injuries this season. If it hadn’t been for injuries then I think they’d be a lot closer to Liverpool and in the hunt for the title – that has to be taken into consideration. I know he’s been there for over five season now and only has one trophy to show for it, but sometimes you can pull the plug on a manager too quickly, bring someone new in, and make things worse.

“If I was in a decision-making role at Arsenal then I’d be voting for him to stay and ultimately it’s the board that decides, not the fans.”