Gary Neville believes Arsenal could go from Premier League champions to Champions League winners if they manage to sign Julian Alvarez before the transfer window closes.
The Sky Sports pundit says the Gunners have assembled an outstanding squad but still require “a bit of magic up front” to reach another level. He identified Atletico Madrid forward Alvarez as the player who could provide that quality.
Arsenal have started the new campaign strongly, following their Community Shield victory over Manchester City with a 3-0 win against newly-promoted Coventry.
The club are among those interested in Argentina international Alvarez, alongside Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. However, Atletico Madrid chief executive Miguel Angel Gil said earlier this summer that the Spanish club did not want to sell the striker and would not consider an offer of £170m for him.
Neville believes Arsenal should nevertheless test Atletico’s determination to keep the 25-year-old.
“What a squad [Mikel Arteta] has built,” said Neville. “If he puts another forward into that, if they could get Julian Alvarez somehow, that would light this place up as you’d have a world-class striker to go with all the world-class defenders and midfielders.
“They wouldn’t just become Premier League title winners they’d go the next step and win a Champions League. It’s a massive 10 days. He needs a bit of magic up front – someone that can win a game for you when you don’t play well.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said after the victory over Coventry that the club’s priority remained developing the players already at the club and improving their understanding on the pitch.
Speaking at his post-match news conference, Arteta said: “the main focus has to be to improve our players and the connection between them”.
He also pointed to the limited number of matches played together by Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Ben White on Arsenal’s right-hand side last season, with injuries disrupting their partnership.
Neville, though, believes Odegaard could become even more effective if Arsenal signed a forward capable of making the type of movement associated with former Gunners striker Ian Wright.
“He [Odegaard] is exceptional. If there was an Ian Wright-type player up front for Arsenal who makes those short runs he’d be even better,” said Neville.
“As [Kai] Havertz and [Viktor] Gyokeres always come to the ball, Odegaard has to play possession rather than playing the slip passes. If Arsenal were to sign Julian Alvarez then he’d go up a level as it would be perfect for the style of play.”
Former Liverpool defender and fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher also feels Arsenal are missing an outstanding player in the attacking positions. However, he believes Saka and Odegaard remain capable of reaching the highest level.
“I still think Arsenal lack a world-class player in the front four,” he said. “About two years ago I thought Saka and Odegaard would make that next step. For whatever reason it’s not happened due to injuries or Arsenal not being at their best. Those two were close to getting to the levels shown by Man City and Liverpool players, like [Kevin] De Bruyne and [Erling] Haaland or [Mohamed] Salah and [Sadio] Mane. They took their teams to the title.
“Arsenal won the league without [Saka and Odegaard] doing it. They did it by having a great defence and goalkeeper. But I still think Saka and Odegaard can get back to where they were a couple of years ago.”
Carragher said Arsenal’s status as defending Premier League champions could itself help them progress, without the need to pay a major fee for another star.
“The psychological factor of being champions now will take this Arsenal team to another level rather than buying a superstar player.”
