‘We don’t know what’s wrong with him’ – Arsenal face major concern over £82m target

Arsenal and Julian Alvarez would appear to be a match made in heaven next summer – but the Gunners will have a lot to consider before making their move.

The price, thought to be in the excess of €100million (£87m) is one. What to do with Viktor Gyokeres is another.

The Sweden international was supposed to be the man to end Arsenal’s long-standing issues up front. But the £64million signing has struggled with the demands of the Premier League, looking a level below the class required to lead the line for a side hoping to be crowned Premier League champions.

Last week, reports of Arsenal’s interested in Alvarez re-emerged with Mikel Arteta’s side weighing up a move for the Atletico Madrid star at the end of the season. Key to any talks will be Andrea Berta, Arsenal’s sporting director who oversaw the Argentina international’s move from Manchester City to the Wanda Metropolitano in the summer of 2024.

Alvarez scored 29 goals in 57 appearances in his first season in Spain, 17 of those coming in La Liga where he started 30 of 38 games.

While he has four in six Champions League outings, league goals have dried up somewhat this season with seven in 21 appearances. After a bagging five in two games against Rayo Vallcano and Real Madrid in the autumn, it has been hard going since.

Alvarez has just one La Liga goal in his last 14 matches – that one coming from the penalty spot against Sevilla at the start of November. For his last goal from open play, you have to go back to 27 September.

Remarkably, it’s a worse record than that of the much-maligned Gyokeres, who has just one goal from open play in his last 12 Premier League matches, compared to Alvarez’s run of 14.

Europe has offered some respite but the headline is still grim reading – in all competitions, Alvarez hasn’t score since the Champions League victory over PSV Eindhoven on 9 December.

Alvarez is a player of immense pedigree, a World Cup winner having scored 36 goals in 103 appearances for City while largely playing second fiddle to Erling Haaland.

But his form did spark somewhat eyebrow-raising comments from Atletico president Enrique Cerezo last week, telling reporters: ‘He’s going through a moment where we don’t know what’s happening to him.’

Diego Simeone is stood firmly behind his striker, hitting back at critics daring to question his ability to find the back of the net. When asked why he or Atletico supporters should believe in Alvarez, Simeone replied: ‘Seriously? Are you seriously asking me that?

‘The truth is that Julian Alvarez speaks for himself, because of the name he has, the authority he carries, and the career he’s built, right?’

All things considered, Simeone is right. Alvarez is a proven goal scorer, at the very highest level in football having scored four times to help his nation lift the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. His record for City is also a clear and obvious indication over his ability to carry that form into the Premier League – something Gyokeres has so desperately struggled with.

But as Gyokeres’ season is demonstrating, there are just no guarantees when it comes to solving a problem up top.