Arsene Wenger told the media he thinks there is ‘no need’ for the club to sign more forward players this summer, as we edge closer to the transfer window re-opening.

Alex Iwobi and Danny Welbeck, often relegated to the reserves in recent weeks, stepped up to win Arsenal the match against Southampton on Sunday. Iwobi assisted Welbeck twice in the 3-2 victory.

With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette both scoring regularly at the moment as well, reporters asked Wenger whether he felt spoilt for choice up front.

“In some aspects of the game there is no need to buy more players at that level, because we have young strikers as well, promising strikers,” he responded. “But we’ll see [about] that at the end of the season.”

Wenger then suggested that the team needs to improve at the other end of the pitch.

“We have an offensive team,” Wenger said. “That means as well the defenders are not always in the best possible conditions to defend, having to find a better balance in defending.”

Perhaps then, this is where we should expect to see Arsenal investing in the summer. The club need to sign better defenders to make up for the fact the team often leave the defence exposed, a defensive midfielder to help protect the defenders a bit more, or both.

Promoting from within

From the sounds of things, Wenger thinks Arsenal are set in the striking department. It’s hard to argue with that, given the many options available at the moment.

As the manager mentions, there’s not only Aubameyang, Lacazette and Welbeck, but also a number of promising young strikers coming through behind them.

We all know Eddie Nketiah from his brace against Norwich City, but Stephy Mavididi is also having a good loan spell, Reiss Nelson is contributing a goal a game for the academy, and the next bracket of young forwards below those three looks just as promising.

We evaluated some of the centre-backs and defensive midfielders Arsenal could sign this summer, if you want to take a look: