It's not been the summer many Arsenal fans were hoping for this year, as while the team have looked good on the pitch, very little has happened off of it.
Mikel Arteta's side produced the best defence in the league last season but scored five goals fewer than Manchester City. Yet, as things stand, Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori is the only addition Edu Gaspar and Co have made to the first team.
That said, there are still a couple of weeks to go until the transfer window slams shut, and so far, the club have been linked to several strikers this summer, from Napoli's Victor Osimhen to Sporting CP's Viktor Gyokeres.
However, there was another exciting centre-forward touted for a move to the club earlier in the window, an international who's been compared to Gyokeres and would surely help supercharge Bukayo Saka.
Arsenal's striker search
Of all the goalscorers who have been linked with moves to Arsenal so far this year, Gyokeres has probably been the most prominent.
The stories started coming back in December last year but began to pick up steam in March before becoming impossible to ignore in June.
However, it's now looking unlikely that the former Coventry City ace will be moving to North London this month, with it becoming clear that Sporting are unwilling to budge on their £86m valuation of the player.
That said, while this is far from ideal for the Gunners, they were linked with a striker earlier in the window who'd almost certainly be cheaper and has been compared to the Sporting ace before, Santiago Gimenez.
The Mexican international was touted for a switch to the Emirates from Feyenoord last month for a fee of potentially €50m, which converts to about £43m. Now, the 23-year-old marksman is an exciting prospect regardless of outside comparisons, but interestingly, he has been compared to Gyokeres by FBref.
They compared players in similar positions across the next best 14 competitions over the last 365 days and then created a list of the ten most comparable players for each position. In this case, they concluded that the Swedish ace is the fifth most similar forward to the Feyenoord star.
You can see the similarities best when looking at some of their underlying metrics in which they rank closely, including but not limited to non-penalty goals plus assists, goals per shot and goals per shot on target, progressive passes and passes into the penalty area.
Non-Penalty Goals + Assists
1.03
1.05
Goals per Shot
0.20
0.22
Goals per Shot on Target
0.43
0.45
Progressive Passes
1.41
1.57
Passes into the Penalty Area
0.49
0.59
However, away from what makes him similar to the Sporting ace, the Buenos Aires-born star would be an excellent signing for Arsenal, and in particular, he'd be great for Saka.
Why Gimenez would be incredible for Saka
So, there is one overriding reason why the former Cruz Azul ace would make an excellent teammate for Saka, and it's the same reason he'd be great for the Gunners overall: his output.
The North Londoners' number seven was exceptional last season, racking up an outrageous tally of 20 goals and 14 assists in 47 games, and he did it without a consistent striker to the left of him, which is where Gimenez comes in.
For example, in his 41 appearances for Feyenoord last season, he scored a mammoth 26 goals and provided eight assists to boot, meaning he averaged a goal involvement every 1.20 games.
Appearances
41
51
36
Goals
26
14
8
Assists
8
7
8
Goal Involvements per Match
0.82
0.41
0.44
In contrast, Kai Havertz racked up 21 goals and assists in 51 appearances, while Gabriel Jesus managed 16 in 36, equating to an average for the German of a goal involvement once every 2.42 games and an average of one every 2.25 games for the Brazilian.
Now, you have to consider the league in which they play, but even if the "unstoppable" Mexican, as talent scout Jacek Kulig dubbed him, saw his productivity drop slightly, there's a good chance he'll continue outperforming Arsenal's current striking options. Therefore, he'd be able to put away more of the chances created for him by Saka, thus helping boost his assist tally as well.
Ultimately, time is running out to bring in a new goalscoring centre-forward this summer, and if Gimenez is available for around £43m, then Edu and Co should do what they can to bring him in, as he could help fire the club to the title and supercharge Hale End's favourite son at the same time.
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