'A bit of a shock' Ray Parlour reacts to Arsenal’s new big money signing

Former Arsenal player Ray Parlour has expressed his uncertainty regarding Arsenal’s decision to sign Kai Havertz, suggesting that the club should have prioritised a striker instead.

While Arsenal does have strikers in their squad, Parlour believes they lack a prolific goal scorer who can consistently deliver around 25 goals per season.

Parlour suggests that having a player with such goal-scoring prowess in their ranks last season could have potentially propelled Arsenal to a league title. Consequently, fans were hopeful that the club would target a high-profile striker in the current transfer window to address this need.

However, Arsenal’s acquisition of Havertz, who has predominantly played as a forward for Chelsea in recent seasons, has left some observers puzzled and Parlour is one of them.

He said on Talk Sport:

‘Havertz was a bit of a shock, because I thought they needed an out-and-out striker.

 ‘[Gabriel] Jesus is there, Eddie Nketiah has done great when he’s come in but I thought they needed one more top quality striker.

‘But they went for Havertz and spent a lot of money on him. Edu and Mikel Arteta must see something in him.’

Just Arsenal Opinion

Arteta has mostly signed players that did well at the Emirates and we still have to trust his judgement on Havertz.

It remains unclear why he has added the German to the group, but when the season starts, we will get a clearer picture.