Graeme Souness names Arsenal star who ‘hasn’t got any better’ under Mikel Arteta

Graeme Souness believes Arsenal are ‘still a couple of top strikers away’ from challenging Premier League leaders Liverpool and says Kai Havertz is ‘not the answer’.

Arsenal travelled to Dubai for some warm weather training earlier in the week sitting six points behind Premier League title rivals Liverpool.

The Gunners are challenging for the title for the third successive season but Souness believes there is still a ‘fundamental difference’ between Arsenal and Liverpool in terms of the goalscorers at the respective clubs.

Souness insists Havertz is ‘not the answer’ for a title-chasing club and says he has ‘not got any better’ since joining Arsenal from Chelsea in 2023.

Despite lifting the Champions League trophy at Stamford Bridge, Havertz largely underwhelmed at Chelsea before his £65m switch to the Emirates Stadium.

‘Mikel Arteta has built a really good team who are still a couple of top strikers away from challenging Liverpool to be the very best,’ Souness told MailSport.

‘Those strikers are the hardest thing to find. The most important ingredient in building a winning team – and very much Arsenal’s missing ingredient.

‘Put Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak in that Arsenal team – because he’s the player they want to buy this summer – and you are looking at a side who would be the finished article and ready to get their hands on either of the two big trophies.

‘The club’s Carabao Cup semi-final this week proved my point. Yes, Arsenal were beaten by Newcastle United, but for me they were the better team.

‘Stats never go near to telling the full story of course, but Arsenal had 68 per cent possession in that game, 69.5 per cent possession in the first leg and yet still went out 4-0 on aggregate because they didn’t have anyone to put the ball in the net across those 180 minutes.

‘Arsenal should have owned those games. One day, they go and score five against Manchester City. Three days later they dominate Newcastle and come unstuck.

‘I assure you that they will have come away from St James’ Park thinking, “how have we not gone through over two legs?” They can’t afford that inconsistency.

‘It is the fundamental difference between them and Liverpool. My old club have better goalscorers, which means they don’t have to play well to win games and are less reliant on set-pieces. But without those strikers, Arsenal have to play well to win games.

‘They spent £65million in June 2023 to take Kai Havertz from Chelsea, believing Mikel could make him a better player.

‘Well, I’m afraid that’s not happened. Havertz has not got any better. He is simply not the answer for them.

‘It doesn’t surprise me that Mikel has come out this week and said he is disappointed with his club’s business in the transfer window.

‘The fact that Arsenal were trying to buy Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa in the last knockings of the winter transfer window tells you how badly they wanted a striker.

‘If Arsenal had met the asking price of £60m-plus for that 29-year-old early in the window – and before Jhon Duran was sold to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia – they might have got him.

‘Had that proved the difference between them winning the title or being the nearly-men again, they would have felt the price was worth it.

‘For them to make a last-minute bid like that tells you that Mikel was desperate. Really desperate.

‘When they do get the right striker or strikers in, that club will be a force for anyone and a club to fear. Until then, where the title is concerned, I’m afraid they’re looking like a near miss.’

Havertz has scored 29 goals in 85 appearances for Arsenal and was on target in the club’s last Premier League match – an emphatic 5-1 win over Manchester City.

That result buoyed Arsenal fans ahead of their trip to St James’ Park on Wednesday night but Arteta’s side not only failed to overturn a two-goal deficit but lost again by two goals to fail to make the Carabao Cup final.

Arsenal still have aspirations of winning the Premier League and Champions League but will need to either reel in Liverpool or beat the best teams in Europe to do so.

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