‘I’m not being funny’: Arsenal have now been told they should sign 24-year-old striker rather than Ivan Toney

Add as preferred source on Google

There’s now a prevailing view that Arsenal need to sign a new striker in the coming months.

Arsenal have been playing some brilliant football this season, but it has to be said that they have struggled when it comes to putting the ball into the back of the net as of late.

They’ve scored just 11 league goals in six games – not exactly a record rate, and they need to find more firepower from somewhere.

Ivan Toney has been strongly linked as of late, but according to Anton Ferdinand, speaking on Five, the Gunners would be much better off going for Victor Osimhen if they’re looking to spend big money on a striker.

Osimhen better than Toney

Ferdinand made a case for the 24-year-old.

“I’m not being funny, if we’re talking £80/90m. They’re the numbers that are being put about between £60-80m. You have too look at Osimhen and people like that I think personally. If you’re looking to contend and try to fight City for the title, you have to look that way, not at Ivan Toney,” Ferdinand said.

Unproven

As much as we love Osimhen as a player, we have to admit that there are some sizeable risks attached to this sort of transfer.

Unlike Osimhen, Toney is proven at Premier League level, he was the third-top scorer in the entire division last term, and he knows how to do the business at this level.

Osimhen, on the other hand, is only proven in Italy and France, and, with all due respect, those leagues aren’t what they once were.

We’ve seen top Serie A strikers struggle in the Premier League before such as Andriy Shevchenko, Hernan Crespo and Gianluca Scamacca more recently, and there’s no saying that Osimhen wouldn’t follow that trend if he came to England.

Osimhen has the higher ceiling, but Toney may well be the safer bet here.