On the 5th of July 2017, Arsene Wenger smashed Arsenal’s club record transfer to bring Alexandre Lacazette to the club.
Many Gunners fans will be hoping that the French forward will score the goals to lead a successful title challenge for the North London club, but whether the former Lyon man can deliver is yet to be seen.
Although Wenger has seen enough in Lacazette to spend more on him than any other player he has bought, this is not the first time that Arsene has attempted to find a striker capable of firing them to the title.
Here is a look at some of the Forwards Wenger has signed in an attempt to replace club legends Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp.
Emmanuel Adebayor
In the January transfer window in 2006, Arsenal paid £3 million for the Togo international to join the club from Monaco; Adebayor had a record of 18 goals in 78 appearances, which means the striker had a worse scoring rate than a goal every 4 games upon arrival.
However, in his first season and a half at the Gunners, Adebayor would go on to earn himself a new five year contract, which was signed in September 2008.
By the summer of 2009 Adebayor had amassed 46 goals in 104 appearances for Arsene Wenger’s side, averaging a goal under every 3 matches he played.
Manchester City signed the striker that summer for a fee of £25 million, and the striker then joined Arsenal’s arch rival, Tottenham in 2011.
Eduardo da Silva
Eduardo, who has 64 caps for Croatia arrived in North London after a six-year spell playing for Dinamo Zagreb where he bagged 73 goals in 109 outings.
In the summer of 2007 Arsenal paid around £7.5 million for Eduardo; unfortunately for the player and Arsenal, Eduardo suffered a horrific leg injury that kept him on the sidelines for a full year.
In February 2009 Eduardo returned, scoring two goals against Cardiff City in the FA cup in his first game back from injury.
By the summer of 2010 Eduardo was on his way to Ukraine with Shakhtar Donetsk. His Arsenal career ended with 7 goals from 41 games.
Marouane Chamakh
Similarly to Lacazette, the Moroccan international arrived from Ligue 1, having impressed at Bordeaux which saw Chamakh score 56 goals in 230 appearances for the club.
Chamakh joined the Gunners on a free transfer in the summer of 2010 and his first season in England showed signs of promise with 7 goals in 29 Premier League games.
However, Chamakh would go on to score only the solitary goal during the rest of his Arsenal career, before joining Crystal Palace (via a loan spell at West Ham) in the summer of 2013.
Nicklas Bendtner
Following an impressive loan spell at Birmingham City for the 2006-07 season, Bendtner returned to the Emirates with the ambitions of a first team place.
The Dane had some memorable moments for Arsene Wenger’s side. Bendtner’s first Premier League goal came in a 2–1 Arsenal victory against Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium, whilst he also scored a last minute equaliser against Aston Villa to keep Arsenal top of the table.
Despite gathering a cult following, Bendtner never looked to be good enough to lead the line for Arsenal and following back-to-back loans at Sunderland and Juventus, the 6’4” striker left the Gunners in 2014 with a record of 24 goals in 108 appearances.
Robin van Persie
Van Persie was signed from Feyenoord for a fee of £2.75 million, on a four year contract.
The Dutchman originally had limited playing time at the Gunners due to injury and the form of Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, but following the departure of Henry before the start of the 2007/08 season, Van Persie became a key figure for the North London side.
Having been Vice Captain at the club, the Dutchman was promoted to Captain following the sale of Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona at the start of the 2011-2012 season.
However just a year later, Van Persie announced that he would not be signing a new contract at Arsenal and was subsequently sold to Manchester United for a fee of £24 million.
The former Arsenal captain left the club with a record of 96 goals in 194 appearances and went on to fire the Red Devils to the 2012/13 Premier League title in his first season at the club.
Arsene Wenger has had mixed success with importing strikers with no previous Premier League experience in the past, however, the amount of money they have invested in Lacazette may not guarantee success but is a sure sign that Wenger believes he has found the man who can propel the Gunners to a first league title since 2004.
Written by Svar Nanan-Sen
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