Could Arsene Wenger Actually Go the Whole Summer Without Signing a New Striker?

Sometimes it feels like Arsene Wenger just doesn’t like buying players.

In a Premier League where the culture is increasingly obsessed with transfers, his contrarian streak pushes him toward abstinence—last summer, he was the only manager in the division who didn’t buy a single outfield player.

Now Arsenal fans are facing up to the troubling prospect he could begin the 2016/17 season without signing the striker the club patently needs.

Those fears will not have been helped by a report from Jack Pitt-Brooke of The Independent, suggesting Wenger may be planning to rely on inexperienced academy product Chuba Akpom.

Pitt-Brooke wrote:

"

Chuba Akpom is set to start the new Premier League season as Arsenal’s only fully-fit centre forward. The 21-year-old, who has never scored a senior goal for the club, has been told that he will not go out on loan because Arsenal will need him in August.

Arsenal were confident of signing Jamie Vardy in early June but after he decided to stay at Leicester City, they have not been able to sign anyone else up front, and are increasingly resigned to the fact that they will not. Unless a new striker arrives in the next few weeks, or they can rush Olivier Giroud back to match fitness, either Akpom or Theo Walcott will start up front in their Premier League opener against Liverpool on 14 August.

"

Pitt-Brooke may be overstating the severity of the situation a little. Although much of his career has been spent on the right wing, Walcott is, for the most part, counted as a centre-forward. He’s much more senior than Akpom and would surely start ahead of the young Englishman on the opening day—as could Joel Campbell.

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However, the fact Arsenal are not willing to let Akpom leave on loan suggests they are not especially confident of landing a new striker before the season kicks off.

At this stage, it’s worth pointing out that while Arsenal have completed the signing of Japanese forward Takuma Asano, he has neither the requisite experience to step right into the Premier League nor the international caps to qualify for a British work permit. He may not appear in a competitive game for the Gunners for some time.

In some respects, it’s surprising Wenger has not yet moved to fill the goalscoring void. Speaking to Sky Sports at the back end of last season, he seemed clear he needed a prolific forward.

Wenger said of Arsenal’s 2015/16 campaign:

"

We have analysed well where we are not efficient enough and we must do better with the style we play.

We have to go that way. Our passing has to be quicker, our movement has to be sharper and our efficiency in the final third has to be better. We don't have anybody with 20 goals in the league, so that is a handicap.

"

It’s more than just a handicap—it’s a crippling deficiency. Goals win games, and goalscorers can win league titles. 

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It seemed Wenger recognised as much when he moved to sign Vardy from Premier League champions Leicester City. The England international’s speed and finishing ability promised to offer Arsenal the cutting edge they frequently lacked last season.

However, the move did not come to pass, with Vardy choosing to stay at Leicester and sign a new deal that Michael Kelleher of Sky Sports said will keep him at the club until 2019.

Missing out on Vardy was a setback for Arsenal, but most fans expected them to simply focus on the next name on their list of targets. Since then, the silence has been deafening.

Various names have been linked, with Gonzalo Higuain the latest, per BBC Sport. However, there doesn’t appear to have been a concrete bid lodged.

What will worry Arsenal fans most is the suspicion there was no back-up plan to Vardy. Arsenal are a big club and may have expected a player who was playing non-league football not too long ago to be swayed by the glitz and glamour of the Emirates Stadium.

Vardy would have suited Wenger—and not just because of his style of play. The release clause in his contract, which, according to Jeremy Wilson of the Telegraph, was just £20 million, made him a relatively cheap option. When you consider BBC Sport reported the price quoted for Higuain could be as high as £80 million, Wenger’s motivation for pursuing the Foxes forward becomes all the more clear; he represented a bargain. 

The Arsenal manager is obsessed by value. This summer, price tags in the Premier League seem exorbitantly high, and he will be reluctant to get drawn into that arms race. If the Arsenal boss can’t get the right man for the right price, he may prefer to go with what he has. Wenger would prefer the club kept hold of its money than shell out on the "wrong" player.

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He may also take heart from the fact Giroud had a good European Championship, scoring three times and assisting a further two goals for France.

Walcott will be fresh after missing this summer’s tournament, while Wenger has shown in the past he is willing to throw youngsters into the fray—Akpom and Yaya Sanogo will both be on standby.

Wenger may also feel he ought to keep a place in the squad for Danny Welbeck, who impressed after returning from injury in February. Buying a new player would create an obstacle for the England international to clear when he next comes back.

None of that will comfort the Arsenal fans who feel the Gunners need a superior calibre of striker if they are to seriously challenge for next season’s Premier League title. Wenger must realise that if he is to fulfil his ambition of returning the club to the summit of English football, he may have to accept the new paradigm of Premier League pricing. 

It’s difficult to be confident Wenger will change his outlook. History has a habit of repeating itself—particularly at Arsenal, a club perennially locked in a cycle of underachievement.

The weary Gunners fans have seen all this before. Arsenal have arguably needed a top-class striker since Robin van Persie left the club in 2012. Right now, it feels as if that wait is destined to go on.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2016/17. Follow him on Twitter here.