AND THE SEARCH FOR A STRIKER CONTINUES...

“There’s a shortage of top class strikers in the world. It confirms that there’s a difference between financial power nowadays and the availability of top-class players... It is simple. For any deal, when you want to buy something you go to see the owner and if he doesn’t want to sell, he doesn’t want to sell. You cannot buy. In our job it is exactly like that. When the players are not free you cannot buy them because it’s the club who decides, the person who owns the contract who decides."

So it's been seven weeks since the opening of the transfer window, and clubs especially in the Premier League have been a busy lot. I mean, even the lesser lights are now wielding greater financial muscle, and with the massive 5.1 billion pounds television rights deal which comes into effect next season, the situation is likely to persist. Stoke City, for instance, have signed nine new players, headlined of course by the 12 million-pound acquisition of former Inter Milan and Bayern Munich winger Xherdan Shaqiri. Leceister have signed Gokhan Inler, Crystal Palace signed Yohan Cabaye, Swansea signed Andre Ayew, West Ham signed Dimitri Payet, Aston Villa signed Andre Ayew's younger brother Jordan, West Brom acquired the services of Salomon Rondon, even Watford have the luxury of fielding proven quality midfielders like Etienne Capoue and Valon Behrami (he had a spell at West Ham before moving to Napoli). Chelsea have signed Asmir Begovic, Baba Rahman, Pedro and Radamel Falcao, United have brought in Memphis Depay, Sergio Romero, Morgan Schneiderlin, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Matteo Darmian so far, City have brought in three new players, and Liverpool SEVEN. The Emirates, in sharp contrast, has been rather quiet with Petr Cech the only new arrival thus far, and the pressure is understandably on Arsene Wenger to show his hand in the market.

Here's the thing though- ask any Arsenal fan where he/she feels the squad needs strengthening, and nine out of ten will tell you we need an Aguero-esque centre-forward. But, as the manager says, take a look around at what is on offer and it's difficult to find one who is an upgrade on what we currently have. Our alleged pursuit of Real Madrid's Karim Benzema culminated in the striker's agent saying he is "1000% staying in Real Madrid", and what many media outlets peddling this transfer neglect to mention is that Benzema signed a new five-year deal only last year. An interesting read from the Evening Standard suggests that Real Madrid are only using our reported interest to demonstrate that they still are capable of holding onto some of their best players, after losing the likes of Angel di Maria, Wesley Sniejder and Gonzalo Higuain in recent years. Another name that has been bandied about is Gonzalo Higuain, but he's no longer available after signing a contract extention in June. Another name mentioned in this regard was Jackson Martinez, but then he signed for Atletico Madrid. So... Charlie Austin perhaps? The forward scored 18 league goals last season and has two in two so far for QPR in the Championship. Okay, okay, I kid.

All the same, a new striker will not be easy to find. It comes as little surprise then that the manager was talking about getting 10-15 more goals from the likes of Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain in the build-up to the Community Shield clash against Chelsea. He again challenged Mesut Ozil to score more after the win at Crystal Palace, and emphasizes on his priority being to get the most he can from his current crop of players before bringing new faces in:

"I’m always more focused on developing the team, the players we have and getting everyone on board that we have at the club. We want to develop players as well rather than overthinking whether to buy."

When you look at it, Alexis Sanchez scored 16 league goals last season, Olivier Giroud managed 14 and Aaron Ramsey 10. No one else managed to get into double figures, and the manager is therefore right to want to get more from his players. Last season we all bemoaned the lack of mobility and tenacity from Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini, and many thought we should dip into the murky waters of the transfer market to sign a new defensive midfielder. The answer, in the end, lay within through Francis Coquelin. Wenger did, however, go on to say he's not averse to making new signings:

“I’m not against buying when it is a plus for your team. If it’s just to buy a player at the level of the players that you have to make people happy, I’m not ready for that. If it’s somebody who brings something that you don’t already have in the squad, then of course you want to do that.”

And I believe him too. I don't think Arsene is reluctant to spend, it just has to be an upgrade on what we already have. Look at his acquisition of Petr Cech for example, whom he signed despite us having good quality with Wojciech Szczesny and David Ospina beforehand. The Pole has since been moved to AS Roma on loan. We currently have Giroud, Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck vying for the central striking role, and that's a lot. But if we manage to bring a new face in, someone better than all three of them, then I'm all for it. We just have to find the right someone first.

*Photo courtesy of Getty images*
*Quotes courtesy of the Evening Standard and Arsenal Media*