Let’s cast your mind back to January 2024. Arsenal were in a rut and it was a run of form that likely ultimately cost them the league title.
The goals were not flowing with a run around the New Year period where they scored just once across three games meaning a new striker was a priority.
mikel-arteta-arsenal-premier-league
Ivan Toney was one option but he came and went, before penning terms in Saudi Arabia over the summer. By that point, however, a new centre-forward was not at the top of the bucket list anymore.
RB Leipzig sensation Benjamin Sesko may have been a target but he signed a new contract in Germany and is perhaps one for the future.
Arsenal-Sesko-Leipzig
For now, however, the Gunners are more than happy with a certain Kai Havertz who has been nothing short of remarkable since being employed as the club’s no.9.
Kai Havertz’s season in numbers so far
This time last year Havertz was handed a charity penalty by Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard away at Bournemouth.
It was late September and the controversial £65m signing from Chelsea had been anything but a success, failing to score up to that point.
He opened his account on that sunny afternoon at the Vitality Stadium and since then hasn’t looked back. The German scored a late winner against Brentford and after that moment, he’s become a cult hero at the Emirates Stadium.
kai-havertz-arsenal-champions-league
Havertz has started the current campaign like a house on fire, scoring six goals in ten games. He’s also emulating a fellow left-footer in Robin van Persie, having now scored in seven successive home matches. Not bad indeed.
As a striker in Arsenal colours, he is up there with the very best in the world, having registered 20 goal involvements in 20 games (12 goals and 8 assists), averaging one every 83 minutes.
Kai-Havertz-Arsenal-stats
The turnaround from a year ago is quite incredible. The former Leverkusen star is now one of the first names on the team sheet. Football is a funny old game sometimes, isn’t it?
Speaking of remarkable rises, Mika Biereth has had quite the last year in front of goal. He’s also now outscoring Havertz…
Where are they now
How Biereth is performing after leaving Arsenal
When Biereth signed for Arsenal as a teenager from Fulham in July 2021 there were great hopes for a young centre-forward who was a pretty relentless goalscorer at youth level.
It never quite happened for him, although he’s finally getting his flowers in the senior game now.
Mika-Biereth-Sturm-Graz
The 21-year-old starred out on loan last season, scoring 15 goals in 37 matches for Motherwell in Scotland then Sturm Graz in Austria.
He helped them to win the league title and was scoring goals in the Europa Conference League. It was a breakout year but it wasn’t enough to earn him a place back in the Arsenal first-team.
Biereth on loan in 2023/24
Stat
Motherwell
Sturm Graz
Games
15
22
Goals
6
9
Assists
5
4
Minutes played
1,046
1,624
Stats via Transfermarkt.
Like Flo Balogun a year before, Edu and Co decided to sell while he was in form. Sturm Graz came calling again and agreed upon a £4m transfer fee. It’s peanuts for a club like Arsenal but represents fine business for an academy product regardless.
Biereth-Sturm-Graz-Champions-League
So, how’s he performed since? Well, the London-born striker who qualifies for Denmark, has scored seven goals in nine league matches, one more than the red-hot Havertz. In all competitions, he’s got eight across 13 outings.
That tally was greatly helped by a hat-trick over the weekend as Biereth knocked three goals past RB Salzburg in an incredible 5-0 rout.
There is unlikely to be too much regret on Arsenal’s end but they have lost a unique player here, someone who was described as a ‘Haaland-Kane hybrid’ last season after an interview with British newspaper, the Independent.
Speaking to the publication, the striker self-confessed that he had similar elements to his game.
“Like Haaland, all I really care about is scoring goals. If you’d offer me two touches of the ball and two goals I’d take that. For me, it’s all about scoring goals. [But] there are different aspects of the game when scoring goals isn’t possible when the ball is deep so then it’s about combining, linking the play, holding the ball up like Kane does. Those are the two different variables on the pitch.”
He clearly rates himself, which is obviously good, and it’s that attitude which has taken Biereth to a new level out in Austria over the last ten months or so.
It would not be a surprise to see the young Dane end up in one of Europe’s top five leagues over the coming years. He is a man on fire.
Arsenal-Ethan-Nwaneri
