Arteta sold Arsenal gem for just £4m, now he’s outscoring Isak & Sesko

And just like that, Arsenal’s Premier League dreams are officially over for a third year on the bounce.

Mikel Arteta’s side had to watch Liverpool claim the title yesterday afternoon after they blitzed Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 at home.

While there have certainly been some extenuating circumstances this year, it would be fair to say that the Reds are deserving winners, as with four still left to play, they’ve outscored the Gunners by 17 goals.

With this in mind, it’s no secret that Arsenal fans are desperate for the club to sign a new striker in the summer, so it’s rather unfortunate that Arteta sanctioned the sale of one who’s currently outscoring two of their most heavily linked targets: Benjamin Sesko and Alexander Isak.

Why Arsenal want Isak & Sesko

Before getting to the player in question, it’s worth looking at why Arsenal would want to sign Isak and Sesko this summer, as the last few months have seen them constantly linked with the club.

Starting with the former, the most obvious answer is that, since moving to Newcastle United, he’s become a lean, mean goalscoring machine.

For example, this season alone has seen him rack up a brilliant haul of 26 goals and six assists in 39 appearances, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.21 games.

However, what is just as important is that he’s performing at this level in the Premier League, meaning he’d likely need little to no time to adapt at the Emirates.

In contrast, Sesko doesn’t have that experience, but on top of his 26 goal involvements this term, he has two other advantages.

RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko before taking a penalty

The first is that, at just 21 years old, there is every chance he could continue to develop into a seriously impressive player by the time he reaches Isak’s age, and the second is that, at 6 foot 5, he’d help make the Gunners even more intimidating to play against.

However, while either striker would be a fine addition to the club, it must be frustrating for Arteta to know he oversaw the sale of a player who’s outscoring both of them.

The former Arsenal ace outscoring Isak & Sesko

While Arteta made several impressive sales last summer, like Eddie Nketiah’s £30m move to Crystal Palace and Emile Smith Rowe’s £34m move to Fulham, he made one which has since backfired.

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In July, the Gunners agreed to sell young striker Mika Biereth to Austrian outfit Sturm Graz for about £4m.

The Danish poacher had spent the latter half of the previous campaign on loan with the club, where he racked up a reasonably impressive tally of nine goals and four assists in 22 appearances, so it would be fair to say that even at the time, the fee seemed low.

Unfortunately for the Gunners, that has since proven to be the case, as in the first half of this season, he ended up scoring 14 goals and providing five assists in 25 appearances.

This incredible start to the campaign was enough to convince AS Monaco to spend around £10.8m on him in the January transfer window.

Since moving to the French Riviera, the “outrageous” talent, as dubbed by U23 scout Antonio Mango, has gone from strength to strength, scoring 13 goals and providing three assists in just 17 appearances for his new club.

That means that the young striker, who Arteta sold for what now looks like pennies on the dollar, has managed to rack up a tally of 27 goals and eight assists in just 42 appearances, which works out to a goal involvement every 0.83 games.