The Premier League is now well underway, and teams have just a week to make any last-minute additions to their squads before the transfer window slams shut.
Surprisingly, Arsenal haven't been massively busy this summer. In fact, the only new addition to the first team so far has been Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori, although it's been reported that Mikel Merino is finally undergoing his medical today.
Now, while this lack of business has left some fans unsure about the team's chances this year, there is time left for some late deals to be done, with recent stars like Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman being touted for a move to the Emirates in the last week alone.
However, the former seems unlikely due to his lofty price tag and the links to the former are somewhat murky. While the former Everton ace would be a great signing, Arsenal have already been linked with someone who would be even better and has been compared to Leandro Trossard.
The latest on Lookman
It was reported earlier this week that Arsenal were one of several clubs interested in Atalanta star Lookman, alongside Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain, although at that point in time, it looked like his most likely destination would be Paris.
However, a few days later, reports out of Italy claimed that the Gunners were planning to make an offer for the Nigerian forward of around £42m plus Polish defender Jakub Kiwior, which would have come as quite a surprise to most fans due to the speed at which the story developed.
However, following that update, subsequent reports came out rubbishing any links to the former Toffees ace, meaning that as things stand, Arsenal's stance on the player is unclear.
That said, while he wasn't the player many fans were hoping for this summer, he would have brought some extra quality to Arteta's squad and would have been able to provide cover in a few different areas, but there was another player touted for a move to N5 before Lookman who would be an even better addition, and he's also been compared to Trossard: Eberechi Eze.
How Eze compares to Lookman and Trossard
So, before we look at how Eze stacks up against Lookman, let's examine this comparison to Trossard and where it comes from.
It stems from FBref, which compared players in similar positions in the Premier League last season, created a list of the ten most comparable players for each one and concluded that the Belgian was the number one most similar attacking midfielder or winger to the Englishman.
The best way to see how they came to this conclusion is to compare the pair's underlying numbers and examine the metrics in which they rank closely, such as non-penalty expected goals plus assists, actual goals plus assists, progressive passes, shots, attempted passes, tackles, goal-creating actions and even negative attributes like the number of times they are dispossessed, all per 90.
A pass is considered progressive if the distance between the starting point and the next touch is at least 10 meters closer to the opponent's goal or any completed pass into the penalty area.
Non-Penalty Expected Goals + Assists
0.59
0.58
Goals and Assists
0.66
0.71
Progressive Passes
4.08
4.15
Shots
3.59
3.27
Attempted Passes
39.9
36.8
Goal-Creating Actions
0.48
0.33
Tackles
1.54
1.48
Dispossessed
2.11
2.13
There are also some other more surface-level similarities between the pair, like the fact that they can both play in multiple positions but tend to do their best work off the left and that they enjoyed stellar campaigns last season.
With that said, why would the Crystal Palace ace, who was touted for a move to Arsenal back in June, be a better signing than Lookman?
Well, the primary reason is that the £100k-per-week "wizard", as Declan Rice dubbed him, is Premier League-proven, a fully-fledged England international, and already living in London, meaning that settling into life at the Emirates would likely be a breeze.
In contrast, the Wandsworth-born ace struggled to get up to speed when he was playing in England, as in his 96 Premier League appearances prior to his move abroad, he scored just 11 goals and provided six assists, equating to a goal involvement on average every 5.64 games.
Whereas in 113 top-flight appearances, the former Queens Park Rangers gem has scored 26 goals and provided 15 assists, meaning he has a far more impressive average of a goal involvement once every 2.75 games.
Lastly, with the Palace ace now firmly a part of the England setup, he already has preexisting relationships with some of the Gunners' most essential players, like Bukayo Saka and Rice, and small things like that can help new signings get up to speed even quicker.
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Ultimately, while Lookman would be a good signing for Arsenal, Eze would be even better, and while it looks like a move that won't happen this summer, it's one that would seriously improve Arteta's squad.