Arsene Wenger confirmed after Arsenal's 2-1 win over an MLS All-Star team on Thursday night that the club are still looking to add another attacking player to their ranks, admitting that he is short of options going forward.
Coming in the days following a very public tug of war between himself and chief executive Ivan Gazidis over how much money would be available in the club's mythical transfer 'war chest' this summer, Wenger admitted that he was still very much on the lookout for another forward.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, the Frenchman said: “I have, at the moment, not too many attacking options of experienced players. Let’s not forget that we still have a few players at home and a few players who didn’t play today like [Santi Cazorla].
"And of course we have [Mesut Ozil] and [Aaron Ramsey] at home. And [Olivier Giroud] is not here. So we have options, but we still look outside to find one more."
Wenger and co were thought to be targeting former Napoli forward Gonzalo Higuain before his Italian record move to Juventus, while the Gunners have most recently been linked with Mario Mandzukic for a fee in the region of £17m as the Croatian looks set to find himself pushed out of the Juve first-team by Higuain.
Youngster Chuba Akpom was named the MVP of Thursday's match, saying after the game: “I was playing against players that I played with on FIFA when I was younger: Drogba, Villa, Pirlo. Those are players that you watch in World Cups and big tournaments and just think, ‘Wow, I want to get to that standard.’ It’s nice to share the same pitch as them. I was always learning from them.”