Arsenal were reportedly keen on signing Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez during the summer
A plethora of reports linked the 24-year-old to the Emirates Stadium but the Argentine international eventually signed a new contract with the Nerazzurri, increasing his value to around €120million (£100million), according to CIES Football Observatory.
Now, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has revealed that the Gunners priority for the January transfer window is a striker and admitted that Technical Director Edu was keen on both Martinez and former Chelsea frontman Tammy Abraham over the summer window.
Speaking to The Arsenal Lounge, Romano said: “From what I’m told the priority for Arsenal, in (the) last days of the summer window and in January or next summer if it won’t be January is a striker.
“They want to sign an important striker, they know they need an important striker so the mission is to get one. They were trying for Lautaro Martinez in the summer but it was really complicated to sign him, almost impossible.
“Then they were trying for Tammy Abraham, who was another option but then he joined Roma. They always wanted this kind of striker and they are working on this.
“I expect Arsenal to sign a new striker but I don’t know if they will be able to do it in January because the January transfer window is never easy.”
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Romano also revealed that it is imperative for Arsenal to sign a striker convinced by Mikel Arteta’s project, which is the reason why they stopped pursuing Martinez before he eventually signed a new contract at the San Siro.
He continued: “They are looking at many, many strikers around and they want to find the right opportunity but in particular they want a player 100% convinced by Arsenal’s project.
“Behind the scenes last summer when they were talking to Lautaro Martinez and they were feeling that the player was not 100% convinced about not having Champions League football, not 100% convinced about the project, they said ‘okay let’s leave this deal’ because they wanted a player that was 100% sure and happy to be the new No.9 of Arsenal for many years.”