Arsène Wenger is reportedly looking at Napoli forward Dries Mertens as a replacement for Alexis Sanchez, should the Chilean leave in January.
Further to our previous report that Mertens could be available in January for £27m, The Sun claim Wenger is looking at the 30-year-old as a possible replacement for Alexis, either in January or next summer.
Mertens is in fantastic form for Napoli, having scored eight goals and provided four assists in just 10 games for the Italian side this season, including six goals in six Serie A games so far.
He also scored 34 times and assisted 15 in 46 appearances last season, so his current good form doesn’t seem to have come from nowhere.
However, Arsenal have just invested in a new striker, and whilst having two is always better than one, to me it doesn’t feel like buying another centre-forward would solve the problem created by Alexis’ departure.
Alexis’ goals do need to be replaced, but by someone who is willing to play out wide, in my opinion, something Mertens has only done 10 times in his last 56 matches. But as long as he’s willing and able to do that, he would be well worth a bid next year.