It's been a decent week for Arsenal in the Premier League. Their draw away to Manchester City and wins at home to Luton Town have kept them within touching distance of league leaders Liverpool.
Mikel Arteta's side will need to win most, if not all, of their remaining games to lift the title this season, but with their goalscoring form since the turn of the year, that's entirely possible.
However, at the start of next term, Gabriel Jesus could find his game time more limited; at least, that looks like it could be the case based on recent reports linking the club to a new number nine who has been compared to Harry Kane in the past.
Latest Arsenal transfer news
According to a recent report from the Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport, Arsenal are among several top fight clubs across Europe interested in signing Bologna's talented striker, Joshua Zirkzee, this summer.
The report revealed that while AC Milan would likely be the forward's preferred destination, he would not be opposed to moving to the Premier League, with both the Gunners and Manchester United being the most interested English clubs.
Bayern Munich has a buyback clause worth around €40m – £34m – but it appears clear that neither party is interested in making that happen, so the Rossoblu will be able to name their price once the window opens.
The Italian report claims that Bologna considers Zirkzee's situation similar to Rasmus Hojlund's last summer. So, a price tag of around €75m has been discussed for clubs outside of Italy, which comes to about £64m. While that would be a serious investment from Arsenal, he might just be worth it.
How Zirkzee compares to Jesus
So the first and arguably most important thing to consider with any new potential striker signing is how their output compares to the forward they could replace, and in this case, Zirkzee comes out just ahead.
Appearances
31
27
Goals
11
8
Assists
6
5
Goal Involvements per Match
0.54
0.48
In his 31 games this season, the Dutchman has scored 11 goals and provided six assists, meaning he is averaging a goal involvement every 1.8 games. In contrast, Jesus' return of eight goals and five assists in 27 appearances means he averages a goal involvement every two games.
Okay, so what about their underlying numbers, then? Well, here it is a lot closer, and it's actually the Brazilian who just about edges it in the most relevant metrics for a starting number nine.
Expected Goals + Assists
0.51
0.63
Goals
0.40
0.30
Assists
0.12
0.22
Progressive Passes
2.69
2.67
Progressive Carries
1.70
2.22
Shots on Target
1.03
1.26
Goals per Shot on Target
0.31
0.24
For example, the former Manchester City ace produces higher expected goals and assists figure, provides more actual assists, completes more progressive carries, and takes more shots on target per 90.
However, it isn't all that one-sided, as Bologna's "insane athlete", as data analyst Ben Mattinson described him, scores more goals, completes more progressive passes, and has a better conversion rate from his shots on target, all per 90.
Moreover, while it seems from the surface that Jesus is the better creator, Mattinson has argued that it is the ineffective attack of Bologna that is hampering the 6 foot 4 titan's creative numbers and that, in reality, his "his intelligence as a creator & facilitator is out of this world."
The respected analyst has drawn comparisons to former Tottenham Hotspur forward Kane, in that Zirkzee is burdened with the vast majority of the creative work in his current side and if he was placed in a team with goalscoring wingers and midfielders, his "productivity would sky-rocket."
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Ultimately, Arsenal have a great forward in Jesus, and he's likely to play some sort of role at the club for a number of years to come, but if they have the opportunity to sign Zirkzee this summer and bring him into a team with the likes of Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka out wide, they absolutely should.
Having seen the havoc that Kane – who boasts 213 Premier League goals – has wreaked across north London, snapping up a similar figure would be a welcome treat for the Emirates side.