The Gunners have yet to determine whether they have any real interest in this forward from Paris Saint-Germain, who hasn’t really kicked on since Kylian Mbappe’s departure.
Next month, Arsenal could be offered Randal Kolo Muani, the Paris Saint-Germain winger, but the club has not yet decided on moving to sign anyone due to the absence of the club’s wingers.
After the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Arsenal, where Saka tore his hamstring during the club’s 5-1 win over the former, Mikel Arteta confirmed that “many weeks” would be spent sidelining Bukayo Saka.
In a double punch, Raheem Sterling – brought in on loan from Chelsea last summer to fill an Saka hole – is now ruled out too, with a knee injury.
The Gunners were not expected to go for a wide player next month, but the sudden loss of both Sterling and Saka could yet force a rethink.
“The preparation is done and we are ready if something happens,” said Arteta. “Obviously we didn’t predict a situation with Bukayo and Raheem at the same time.
“We predicted more it would be something else, for example if something happened in the defensive line, but the job is done.
It is said that if something has to happen, we will be open about it, but at the moment, our chief focus is how we can milk from this squad a lot further the potential that remains in it. Kolo Muani was said to be one of the most exciting young forwards in Europe when signing for PSG from Eintracht Frankfurt last summer.
So, the 26-year-old was expected to finally have a more significant role this season after being handed the boots by Kylian Mbappe, who left for Real Madrid. Instead, he has managed just two starts in both Ligue 1 and the Champions League to show for it.
Consequently, Arsenal is one of a number of clubs likely to receive an invitation to sign the France international on loan this January, but whether the Gunners will be interested remains to be seen.
Speaking on Monday, Arteta named a few more players already part of his squad and whom he thinks could step up in the absence of Saka, such as Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Leandro Trossard, and young Ethan Nwaneri. “My focus honestly now is just about within the squad the resources we have to be as competitive as we possibly can,” said Arteta.
There are millions of ways to do so, and if something unbelievably [came] in the market and the club was willing to do that, we will have to think about it.”
