Arsenal were heavily linked to red-hot Andrea Belotti of Seria A’s Torino in the January transfer window. Although the move seemed incredibly unlikely for Arsenal to complete in the winter, a deal in the summer actually does seem like a genuine possibility.

If you look at last summer’s transfer window (and previous windows) as evidence of what Arsene Wenger would ideally like to do then it is clear from his bid for Jamie Vardy that he would like to add a pure goal-scorer to his squad.  As we know he ended up signing Lucas Perez but the Spaniard does not seem to be a favourite of Wenger’s. Although Alexis Sanchez has done extremely well this season it has become apparent that the Chilean might not be sticking with the Gunners beyond his current contract hence Wenger has been looking for another goal-scorer.

Arsenal have been missing a real goal poacher for some time and if we look back even further then we can reference the bid for Luis Suarez a few season’s back as another example of an attempt to land a prolific forward. Obviously the bid for Suarez failed as did the move for Vardy – clearly neither deal was meant to be.

So onto Andrea Belotti. As mentioned Wenger was reported to be very interested in the player in January as he is a genuine goal scorer. A bid from Arsenal was reportedly rejected in January according to their sporting director Gianluca Petrachi.

Belotti has banged in 25 goals in 30 games so far this season while playing for a mediocre team. There is clearly plenty of upside to the player as he is only 23 years old and he is improving having scored 12 goals in 36 games last season.

Belotti has also broken into his national team now and has a nice 3 goals already in his 7 game career for Italy. Last month he bagged an 8 minute hat-trick as Torino beat Palermo 3-1. While some say Belotti is a tier 2 striker, he is gaining admirers all over the place as Manchester City, Real Madrid and Manchester United are all reported to be tracking him.

So the question is will Arsenal do battle with their rivals to sign a prolific striker? With Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City all seemingly looking to sign strikers Arsenal are going to have to be agressive and be prepared to match or exceed the big money these clubs are willing to spend.

With the Premier League’s leading scorer Romelu Lukaku looking for Champions League football, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ready to leave Dortmund (with Arsenal already credited with a £80million bid for him), Antoine Griezmann a potential acquisition and Edinson Cavani possibly interested in one more big challenge in his career there seems like there are enough big strikers out there for Arsenal to make a serious transfer swoop.

As it looks more and more as though Arsene Wenger will stay on as manager, recent rumours and reports suggest he is willing to change his ways and move quickly to secure a big-name striker. Signing the likes of Lukaku, Aubameyang or Belotti would be a statement of intent and would show that the Gunners are serious players and could mean that other players would be more inclined to come to the Emirates plus Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil could want to stay which would only be a good thing.

All of the Premier League’s big clubs are looking for striking help and if Arsenal pull the trigger on a mega-deal for a goal-scorer early in the summer then the fans will be satisfied and Arsene Wenger will have the upper hand on his rivals for the first time in many seasons. Many fans will be doubtful of such a move coming to fruition but where there is smoke there is usually fire and Arsenal are overdue to surprise everyone and pull off another major transfer coup like they did in the past with signings such as Thierry Henry, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.