Piers Morgan has demanded Arsenal bosses ‘drive to Newcastle’ with ‘a barrel-load of cash’ and ‘break the bank’ for Alexander Isak.
Calls for Arsenal to sign a top-class striker intensified once again as Mikel Arteta’s men were dumped out of the FA Cup by ten-man Manchester United on Sunday.
Hosts Arsenal appeared to have dragged themselves back into the tie as Gabriel Magalhaes cancelled out Bruno Fernandes’ opener shortly after Diogo Dalot was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence.
But the north London giants were made to pay after spurning a host of inviting chances in front of goal, with Martin Odegaard denied from the spot and Kai Havertz proving ineffective before defending champions United prevailed on penalties to reach the fourth round.
The Gunners’ defeat was compounded by Gabriel Jesus’ serious-looking knee injury towards the end of the first half, which a downbeat Arteta admitted was a ‘big worry’ for the club in his post-match press conference.
Arteta has repeatedly played down Arsenal fans’ expectations in the transfer market this month, with the club unlikely to spend big on any big-name additions despite their predicament in attack.
But speaking on talkSPORT the morning after the third-round contest, TV personality Morgan argued that Arsenal had to make a bid for a forward of Isak’s if they had any hope of saving their season.
‘Morgan, a lifelong Arsenal fan, said: ‘How many times have I been on your show in the last three years since [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang got shoved out the door?
‘He was a genuinely world-class striker in my opinion and had an amazing scoring record for Arsenal.
‘Alright, Arsenal didn’t want him. Fine. So who are you going to replace him with?
‘The reality is, I’ve very calmly, each time I’ve come on, politely suggested that we need to sign a proper striker. The days for calm are now over… we need a bloody striker!
‘If you want to win big trophies you’ve got to be ruthless and you’ve got to sign the best players.
‘Isak, right now, is the best striker in Europe… Arsenal, break the bloody bank!’
Morgan added: ‘I would literally go right now, with a barrel-load of cash, drive to Newcastle and I would offer Newcastle whatever it takes.
‘I don’t care, £100m, £120m, £140m, £150m, I will find the players from our 87 defenders that Arteta has bought in the last couple of years, I will find the players to make up the cash and do FFP stuff.
‘We should break the bank for Alexander Isak. The way we play, the chances we create…
‘Do you know how many chances we’ve had, how many shots we’ve had this week? This week alone, 49 shots. Do you know how many goals we’ve scored? One. Do you know who scored it? Gabriel, a central defender. If that doesn’t tell you something then I don’t know what does.’
While Morgan believes Havertz is a ‘perfectly good footballer’, he does not think the German has what it takes to lead the line and steer Arsenal to major trophies.
‘We do not have a proper striker and one of our two makeshift strikers now looks like he’s out for the season which is heartbreaking for him after that last injury he had and I feel incredibly sorry for him,’ he continued.
‘But the idea that Kai Havertz is going to be the guy that wins you trophies, leading the line for Arsenal, is for the birds and every Arsenal fan knows it. Why doesn’t Mikel Arteta know it?
‘Why does he entrust everything in this guy who is a perfectly good footballer, Havertz, but he is not a No.9, he is not a striker.’
According to Morgan, Arsenal have gone backwards after failing to ‘fill the void’ that ‘obviously’ needed filling in the summer transfer window.
‘We’re not even playing at the level we played at last season, we’re nowhere near that level,’ he went on.
‘Last season and the season before we were attacking, we had flair, we were exciting to watch and we came up just short. We should have won the league both seasons and that was criminal negligence in not getting over the line.
‘I’ve ranted about that before but you look for progression. Have Arsenal progressed? Did we progress in the transfer window? Did we go and fill the void which we obviously needed to fill, which was a problem?
‘No, we went and got Mikel Merino who I think is a very mediocre player, offers us very little in the way of creativity, so all the pressure in the midfield is on Odegaard.’
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