In early 2024, Mikel Arteta took his Arsenal squad on a warm weather trip to Dubai that altered the course of their season. After they returned, everything seemed to click into place and they came back a different side entirely, although it wasn’t quite enough to pip Manchester City to the Premier League title in the end.
Unfortunately, repeating that trick in 2025 has not produced the same outcome. In fact, it has done the opposite. News that Kai Havertz, the club’s only fit central striker, has a torn hamstring has placed the Gunners in a tricky situation up front, amid a campaign that has felt desperately short of luck already.
With the decision not to sign a striker in the winter transfer window appearing to be a poor one (although everything is easy to criticize in hindsight), Arsenal are now restricted to bringing in a free agent if they wish to replace the Germany international with a new arrival. Either that or promote a youngster from the academy.
Here’s a look at the best options available … and fair warning, it’s not the most inspiring list.
Available free agents
Carlos Vela
A familiar face, as he played at Arsenal from 2005-2012 without ever making a significant impact, Vela getting another crack at the Emirates would be quite the story. But as romantic as that sounds, it has been 6½ years since the Mexico international played anything other than MLS football, so asking him to step up to Premier League level at 35 years old might be a stretch.
Furthermore, he’s the kind of tricky talent who would likely thrive on the wing for Arteta’s side, rather than be a focal point through the middle, where he has to battle with center backs all game long.
Diego Costa
In 2022, five years after departing Chelsea (where he scored 59 goals in 120 games and won two league titles), Costa returned to the Premier League with Wolves and scored only a single goal across the campaign. It quickly became clear that he could not play with the same bruising, punishing physicality that once defined his style of play.
Several years on and it’s tough to believe anything has changed for the better. The past two years have brought mixed campaigns in Brazil with Botafogo and Grêmio. Now 36, he struggled to stay fit in 2024 and rarely played a full game. As intriguing as his signing might be given the Arsenal fans’ animosity toward him during his time in a blue shirt, it’s surely not the answer.
Maxi Gómez
At 28, Gómez is theoretically entering his prime as a striker. The problem is, not only has he not played since being released by Trabzonspor last summer, he also went the entire 2023-24 season without scoring a goal while on loan for Cádiz. And he played 33 times!
Gómez was expected to find a new team in January and has been training at his old club, Valencia, to stay in shape for when the call comes. He was probably thinking more Real Valladolid than Arsenal, but given the situation, you never know.
Mariano Diaz
Díaz is probably the most attractive option. At 31, he’s still in good physical condition and has vast experience playing for top clubs, given he has split his career playing for Real Madrid, Sevilla and Lyon.
The problem is, there’s really only one notable goal-scoring season to his name, which came way back in 2017-18 with Lyon, when he netted 18 Ligue 1 goals from just 30 starts. That was enough to convince Madrid to bring him back to the Spanish capital, but he has sputtered ever since, scoring just five league goals over six seasons.
Looking internally
Arteta could turn to another forward and ask them to play a heavily adapted role. Leandro Trossard fits the bill for a “false No. 9” role in theory, while Thomas Tuchel once pinpointed Raheem Sterling as an ideal No. 9 for his Chelsea side, so there might be something in that.
None of these moves would address the issue of Arsenal losing a squad member for the rest of the season, though, with part of the thought process of potentially signing a free agent being that they simply need bodies to cope with the game load. So if no market opportunity presents itself, what do Arsenal have to call upon from within?
There’s Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, 22, who has failed to score a goal across two loan spells with Accrington Stanley and Cheltenham Town. That said, he has made waves at the Premier League 2 level, won Player of the Month in August and reportedly attracted interest from Swiss side FC Zürich in January.
Also nominated for the award that month was fellow forward Khayon Edwards, 21, who has taken in one goalless loan spell at Leyton Orient to date. He’s even less experienced than Butler-Oyedeji but, like his colleague, represents a potential depth option for Arteta to consider.
What’s clear is that, having opted against pursuing a striker in January and now having lost both Havertz and Gabriel Jesus to potentially season-ending injuries, Arsenal have run out time to find anything approaching a perfect solution. They will have to make do, one way or another, and hope this doesn’t cost them too harshly.
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