Forget Sesko and Gyokeres - Arsenal's striker solution is much closer to home

Let's face it, Arsenal's hopes of ending their Premier League title drought hinge on adding goals to their front line this summer. It's been the same old story for three consecutive seasons: Arsenal were good, but not good enough.

Mikel Arteta has done a solid job of transforming Arsenal from a team with a soft underbelly into a genuine challenger. But injuries or not, there have been far too many times this season where the Gunners have run out of firepower.

It's been an issue that has plagued Arsenal in each of their last three runner-up finishes, yet the north Londoners haven't done much to rectify it. Kai Havertz arrived from Chelsea in 2023 for £65million, but his performances haven't particularly screamed league championship-winning striker.

Unsurprisingly, big-money strikers are being linked to Arsenal this summer, as they look to make it fourth time lucky and win their first title since 2003/24. RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko and Sporting's Viktor Gyokeres have been mentioned, but Arsenal's key to fixing their goal issue is much closer to home.

No player outside of the top-five finishers in the Premier League scored more goals than Bryan Mbeumo this term, with the Brentford ace having netted 20 times in the league. Having joined Brentford in 2019 when the club were in the Championship, he's gone on to play 242 times for the Bees, scoring 70 times and assisting a further 51 in the process.

Unlike the other names mentioned as Arsenal targets, Mbeumo has been there and done it in the Premier League. He's got versatility on his side too, with the 25-year-old able to play on the wing as well as down the middle and in truth, his play style appears better suited to the way Arteta likes to set his team up.

There seems to be a school of thought that suggests simply adding an out-and-out number nine solves all of their problems. The evidence of the last few seasons suggests Arsenal aren't too far away from hitting the jackpot, and instead, a few clever additions might be all they need for it to click into place.

Mbuemo has had plenty of noise around his future this summer, . But given United aren't involved in European competition of any kind, should Arsenal register interest themselves, it's unlikely it would take too much to turn the forward's head.