Arsenal wonderkid was tipped to be Henry 2.0, but Edu sold him for just £4m
When it comes to Arsenal’s best-ever forward, there is only one answer: Thierry Henry.
The French magician joined the club in 1999 and, alongside Arsène Wenger and some other sensational players, helped to define an era of English football.
In all, the former Les Ulis-born phenom racked up a tally of 228 goals and 96 assists in 37 appearances for the Gunners, and while no striker has been able to replace him in the years since, the club have had at least a few stand-out centre-forwards.
However, Arteta might well have had his own version of Henry had Edu Gaspar and Co not sold a highly-rated youngster for what now looks like pennies on the dollar in the summer.
Arsenal's best strikers since Henry
It would be fair to say that the first seriously successful striker Arsenal had in the years after Henry’s departure was Robin Van Persie.
The Dutchman might be persona non grata at the Emirates today because of his transfer to Manchester United in 2012, but during his final two campaigns with the club, he was simply unstoppable, amassing a tally of 22 goals and seven assists in 33 games in 2010/11, and then 37 goals and 11 assists in 48 games the following year.
Following the departure of the Rotterdam-born poacher, Wenger and Co signed Olivier Giroud from Montpellier for just £12m, and while he was never as prolific as RVP, he did enjoy a reasonably successful career in North London.
For example, in 253 appearances, across five and a half seasons, the World Cup winner scored 105 goals, provided 37 assists and won three FA Cups.
However, in January 2018, the Chambéry-born marksman was sold to Chelsea to facilitate the signing of Borussia Dortmund star Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, who for some time was arguably the Gunners’ best forward since Henry.
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Olivier Giroud’s Arsenal record |
|
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
253 |
|
Goals |
105 |
|
Assists |
37 |
|
Goal Involvements per Match |
0.56 |
|
All Stats via Transfermarkt |
|
The Gabonese international hit the ground running, becoming the fastest player in the club’s history to reach 50 Premier League goals in July 2020 and then playing a pivotal role in the club’s record 14th FA Cup triumph a month later.
However, after signing a blockbuster new deal that September, the wheels started to come off, and following lacklustre form and fallings out with the manager, he was allowed to join Barcelona for free in early 2022.
Since then, Arteta has used Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz up top, and while both players have had their moments, the former has suffered far too many injuries and the latter still hasn’t done enough to quell calls for the club to sign a new striker.
Unfortunately, Arteta might have already had his answer to those calls in a player compared to Henry had Edu and Co not sold him in the summer.
First Impressions
What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast’s ‘First Impressions’ series has everything you need.
The former Arsenal gem compared to Henry
Now, comparing a young forward to a player as sensationally gifted as Henry could be seen as unfair, but that was exactly what Sun journalist Jon Boon did with Mika Biereth in July 2021.
It was in the aftermath of Arsenal poaching the young talent from Fulham’s academy that Boon suggested he ‘might just be the next Thierry Henry.’
While that might sound a little ridiculous, he did so because, in just 27 appearances for the Cottagers’ youth sides the season prior, the young Dane had scored 22 goals and provided 13 assists, and at that point, no Arsenal forward had hit double figures for goals and assists since the great Frenchman, until Bukayo Saka did a couple of years later.
The youngster would spend the following season with the Gunners’ youth sides, and then, in the 22/23 campaign, he was sent out on loan for the first time to Dutch side RKC Waalwijk, but with just two goals in 12 appearances, it was not a successful stint.
Fortunately, last season went far better for the young forward, as, across two spells, first with Motherwell and then with Sturm Graz, he racked up a brilliant tally of 15 goals and nine assists in 37 appearances, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.54 games, and was enough to convince the Austrian side to spend £4m to make his move permanent.
The “crazy” talent, as dubbed by former GOAL reporter Robin Bairner, picked up where he left off at the start of the campaign and, by January, had already scored 14 goals and provided five assists in just 25 appearances, which tempted AS Monaco to spend £10.8m plus £1.75m in add-ons on the young Dane.
Since moving to the French Riviera, the former Arsenal prospect has gone from strength to strength and now looks like one of the most in-form strikers in European football, scoring 11 goals and providing three assists in 12 appearances, totalling 860 minutes, which works out to 1.16 goal involvements every game, or one every 61.42 minutes.
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Biereth’s 24/25 |
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|---|---|---|
|
Team |
Sturm Graz |
AS Monaco |
|
Appearances |
25 |
12 |
|
Minutes |
1971′ |
860′ |
|
Goals |
14 |
11 |
|
Assists |
5 |
3 |
|
Goal Involvements per Match |
0.76 |
1.16 |
|
Minutes per Goal Involvements |
103.73′ |
61.42′ |
|
All Stats via Transfermarkt |
||
That means the player Edu let go for a pittance in the summer has managed to score 25 goals and provide eight assists in just 37 appearances across two teams, which is a level of output that Arteta could have used this year.
Ultimately, while the club might have felt like Biereth wasn’t going to be good enough to play for Arsenal in the long term, it surely would have been a smart idea to have at least given him a chance this year, as his form at Monaco suggests he has what it takes to thrive in a top five league.
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