It's been a surprisingly quiet summer on the transfer front for Arsenal this year.
The last two summer windows saw Mikel Arteta welcome in a swathe of new faces like Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and more.
Yet, over the last few months, the only new face added to the first team has been Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori, while the move for Mikel Merino continues to drag on and on.
That said, Edu Gaspar and Co have been much busier with outgoings than in years gone by, with Emile Smith Rowe moving to Fulham for big money and Eddie Nketiah edging ever closer to Nottingham Forest.
However, if the Gunners number 14 is to leave, a replacement must be signed, and interestingly, the club were linked with the perfect candidate earlier this summer.
Nketiah's exit and his potential replacement
It's been a confusing couple of weeks regarding Nketiah's future at Arsenal, as earlier this month, it looked as if he would be joining Marseille, only for the French side to walk away when Arsenal stuck to their valuation of between £30m and £35m.
Then Forest entered the fray, and while they too have had an offer rejected by the Gunners – around £25m – The Athletic's David Ornstein reported earlier this week that they were still negotiating with the North Londoners.
The latest update came from the BBC yesterday evening when it was revealed that the final fee for the Englishman could reach up to £30m, which would vindicate Edu and Co's staunch rejection of all previous offers.
However, if the 25-year-old does leave in the coming days, the club need to sign Arteta another backup striker, to replace him, and while links to potential forwards have gone cold for the moment, the Gunners were linked with someone who'd be the perfect replacement earlier this year: Santiago Gimenez.
The Feyenoord marksman has been touted for a move to the Emirates multiple times over the last nine months, with the links reemerging last week.
Interestingly, while it's unclear how much the Dutch club want for their star attacker, Forest are also working on an offer for the Mexican international worth around €30m – £26m – after seeing their original bid of €25m – £21m – rejected.
If Arsenal are clever, they could offload Nketiah to the Tricky Trees in the coming days and then use the money from that deal to get ahead of them in the queue for Gimenez, as he'd be a brilliant bench option for Arteta, and maybe even someone who could challenge Kai Havertz at points.
How Gimenez compares to Nketiah and Havertz
So, if the Feyenoord ace is going to be the Gunners' replacement for Nketiah and potentially even challenge Havertz in the future, how does his record from last season stack up with the Arsenal strikers?
Well, unsurprisingly, the "unstoppable" Mexican marksman, as talent scout Jacek Kulig dubbed him, was far more effective than the Englishman, racking up an impressive 26 goals and eight assists in 41 appearances, equating to a goal involvement on average every 1.20 games.
In contrast, the North Londoners' number 14 scored six goals and provided three assists in 37 appearances, meaning he averaged a goal involvement once every 4.11 games, and while he didn't play as many minutes, his performances on the pitch weren't good enough to justify more.
Appearances
41
37
51
18
Goals
26
6
14
8
Games
8
3
7
7
Goal Involvements per Match
0.82
0.24
0.41
0.83
It's interesting when we get to the former Bayer Leverkusen ace; if you were to take his entire season, his goal involvement-to-game ratio would be worse than that of the Buenos Aires-born poacher. However, when you look at just the games in which he played as a striker, it's much more even.
For example, in those 18 games, he scored eight goals and provided seven assists, equating to an average of one goal involvement every 1.20 matches, or the same as the man who could be gunning for his place in the team later this season.
Ultimately, it looks like Nketiah is on his way out of the Emirates this summer and heading to Nottingham Forest, and if Arsenal want to be clever and bring in the best candidate to take his place as the go-to option off the bench, then they must go back in for Gimenez.
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