Arsenal may well have secured a 1-0 victory over Wolves at Molineux on Saturday but it wasn’t without an almighty struggle, yet an immense show of character.
Myles Lewis-Skelly was sent off in controversial circumstances in the first half for tripping Matt Doherty and from that moment onwards, it was another uphill battle for Mikel Arteta’s side.
They have faced a number of setbacks this season, notably with red cards, but this was perhaps one of the most puzzling yet.
Alas, Arsenal fought hard and through unlikely goalscorer Riccardo Calafiori, they found their winner in the second half.
What the game did underline, however, was a further need for a goalscorer. Kai Havertz missed a succession of chances once again and as a result KSE simply have to spend this January if they want to give Arteta the best chance of winning the Premier League title.
Just hours after the game Erling Haaland was scoring again and despite not being truly at the races this term, his goals have been the difference in the last two title races. Arsenal could certainly do with their own version of the Norwegian superhuman.
Arsenal’s hunt for a centre forward
As it happened, the Gunners came up against one of their reported targets in Matheus Cunha this weekend who fortunately for Arteta, couldn’t get the better of William Saliba and Co.
Meanwhile, another target, Alexander Isak, was celebrating a further two goals for Newcastle United at the same time.
While that was happening, Havertz missed another simple opportunity and demonstrated why a player like Cunha or Isak is needed.
That being said, there’s another centre forward who could well arrive at the Emirates Stadium in 2025. His name is well known to supporters now; Benjamin Sesko.
The RB Leipzig forward was a priority target for Arsenal last summer but he ultimately penned a new deal with the Bundesliga outfit and stayed in Germany.
Now rated at around £70m by some reports, he’s still on the club’s radar, but according to new claims from transfer insider Ben Jacobs, via Football Transfers, a deal is difficult to do in January.
The reporter did have some positive news for Arsenal fans, however, saying that he would prefer the north Londoners over other suitors.
Jacobs said: “Last summer when the project was pitched from Arsenal, Chelsea and Man United, Sesko picked Arsenal and then made a secondary choice of whether it was now or to stay at Leipzig.
“With Sesko, some contact has been made with Leipzig to understand whether anything is possible. Even though Leipzig are out of the Champions League, they’re pushing in the cup and to qualify again next season. It’s going to take a crazy offer or be impossible in January because Leipzig’s position is very firm.”
How Sesko compares to Erling Haaland
Manchester City have been a dominant force in English football for a while now but the aforementioned Haaland has really taken them to the next level since he signed from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.
In 2022/23, they won the treble as City finally got over the line in the Champions League. That term, the inevitable Norwegian scored a mindblowing 52 goals.
While there was not a consecutive Champions League title in 2023/24, they did win the league again on the way to Haaland bagging 38 times.
Arsenal evidently miss that. Bukayo Saka was the club’s top marksman last season with 20 goals and this time around, their top scorer is Havertz on 14, ten behind Haaland’s tally.
So, signing an out-and-out goalscorer like Sesko certainly ticks a lot of boxes. The Slovenian has scored 14 times in 27 outings in 2024/25 but at the age of 21, his potential for growth is still immense.
He’s also got an extraordinary profile. Right-footed and standing at 6 foot 5, the tall and powerful striker has a cannon of a shot and a lengthy running pattern to race beyond defenders.
In a nutshell, he’s like Haaland. That’s the viewpoint of many in the know, including talent scout Jacek Kulig who has described him as “the new Erling Haaland”.
Data analyst Ben Mattinson elaborated on that comparison via social media, explaining that Seko is an “an amazing athlete with elite range of movement that enables acrobatic improvised finishes.” He continued that the young Slovenian is “the type of striker who throws his body at the ball to score. Sesko scores with style & finesse. Similar to a young Zlatan Ibrahimovic, mixed with Erling Haaland.”
So how do the pair compare over the last two years?
Goals
0.73
0.88
Assists
0.13
0.12
Shots
2.58
3.98
Shots on target
1.39
1.94
Key passes
0.63
0.96
Progressive passes
1.56
0.80
Successful take-ons
1.16
0.44
Carries
16.3
11.6
Progressive carries
1.56
1.02
Aerials won
2.45
1.50
Unsurprisingly the City sensation is streets ahead for goals. No one is going to rival him there but there are some parallels. That said, it actually looks as though Sesko is the more well-rounded striker, offering different types of attributes, chiefly the ability to carry the ball further, beat a man and hold the ball up with a higher percentage of aerial duels won.
As Mattinson further describes, the Leipzig forward is a “diamond in the rough” and at the age of 21, can only get better as he seeks out some of the records Haaland has broken in years gone by.
Is this the Haaland-like signing to catapult the Gunners to the next level? Arteta will certainly hope so if he can conclude a deal.
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