It has been a real Jekyll and Hyde kind of season for Arsenal so far this year. Just a few weeks ago, they were leaving Anfield with a point and spending Christmas Day atop the Premier League table, and yet after back-to-back league losses, they now find themselves fourth and five points off the top spot.
Worse yet, Mikel Arteta's men then crashed out of the FA Cup with a 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool to leave their campaign in limbo.
The biggest problem for the team has been scoring goals, and so, with the transfer window now open, they have been linked to a plethora of forwards and the latest, Bologna's Joshua Zirkzee, has been compared to one of the best players of the Emirates era, Alexis Sanchez.
Arsenal transfer news – Joshua Zirkzee
According to a report from the Daily Telegraph's Sam Dean, Arsenal are looking for a new striker in 2024 and are "keeping a close eye" on Bologna's exciting 22-year-old talisman.
However, the bad news for the Gunners is that it will be a pricey move to complete, as the Serie A side are holding out for offers in the region of £50m, and after the summer of spending that Arsenal had, that could prove difficult.
That said, with the north Londoners still just about in the title race, they might push the boat out and get their man, as his nine goal involvements in 18 starts suggest that he could be a real difference maker.
Moreover, the comparison to former Arsenal star Sanchez might be enough to convince Arteta, as he was still playing for the club when the dynamic forward was blowing teams away.
Zirkzee could be Arsenal's next Sanchez and solve their goalscoring woes
Now, while Sanchez's time with the Gunners ended poorly – to put it mildly – when he was on song, he was magnificent, often winning games single-handedly, having scored 80 goals and provided 45 assists in just 166 games for the club.
So, if an Arsenal-linked forward is to be compared to any player, the Chilean star is pretty good going.
The comparison stems from FBref, which lists the ten most similar players for most footballers in their database. These comparisons are made and ranked based on characteristics that stars share with one another.
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So, the most significant similarities between Sanchez and Zirkzee lie in their passing, dribbling, and positional characteristics. For example, the Dutch forward is among the top 15% of strikers in Europe's top five leagues for attempted passes, while the Inter Milan man is among the top 11%.
Likewise, the "elite" Serie A striker, as described by data analyst Ben Mattinson, is among the top 17% of forwards for successful take-ons, while the former Manchester United winger is among the top 15%, and these are just some of the ways they mirror one another.
That said, while it is always good to measure up with one of the club's most impressive players of the last decade, how do his underlying numbers compare to Gabriel Jesus? As after all, the Brazilian would be his main competition in N5.
Well, in most of the relevant attacking metrics, it's the "out of the world" Zikzee, as described by Mattinson, that comes out on top.
Stats per 90
Zirkzee
Jesus
Expected Goals + Assists
0.44
0.60
Goals
0.40
0.29
Assists
0.11
0.10
Progressive Passes
2.71
2.69
Progressive Carries
1.30
2.02
Goals per Shot on Target
0.33
0.09
Aerial Duels Won
1.02
0.96
All Stats via FBref for the 2023/24 Domestic Season
He produces more progressive passes, wins more aerial duels, scores more goals, and produces more assists from a smaller expected goal and assists figure than Jesus.
Ultimately, with the Gunners in real need of a reliable number nine at the moment, Arteta should be pushing hard to get Zirkzee through the door.
