Arsenal may be forced into action this month after Gabriel Jesus' setback.
The Brazil international looked to have suffered a serious injury in the FA Cup defeat against Manchester United with the full details yet to be released. Mikel Arteta's side have struggled in attack this season and with Bukayo Saka also sidelined it isn't looking good.
The Gunners have been linked with some level of activity in January and given speculation around Jesus' injury - FourFourTwo must agree Arsenal do look like they need some further firepower…
What has Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said about Gabriel Jesus' injury?
Speaking after his team's penalty-shootout defeat, the Spaniard insisted Jesus could be looking at a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
"[It is a] big worry," began Arteta in his post-match press conference on Sunday. "That's my feeling. He had to come off on a stretcher with a lot of pain. Touching his knee, it’s not looking good."
Adding further insult to Arsenal's pain, injury specialist on X (formerly Twitter), Physio Scout, said that Jesus could have suffered a serious knee tear that could spell the end of his football in 2025.
"Gabriel Jesus had to be stretchered off in Arsenal's clash vs. Man United with a knee injury," he began. "Collapse of the knee, pivoting and a tibia bone shift were seen, which usually points towards an ACL injury (+/- meniscus). There is still a chance that he's only suffered a meniscus, isolated MCL injury or just a bone bruise. But that would be an unlikely scenario."
It was a fairly innocuous action that caused the 27-year-old to hit the deck too. Jesus flew in to block Bruno Fernandes's shot but turned awkwardly on the turf and was subsequently stretchered off.
A prognosis of eight to nine months is the usual time frame for an ACL tear which again is becoming more and more frequent in the professional game.
So who could Arsenal buy this January?
A loan opportunity could arise for Arteta and his team with Saka also out injured at present. It leaves Leandro Trossard, Kai Havertz and Raheem Sterling to carry the weight of attack for the second half of the season.
With Champions League football returning soon too, the Gunners have been linked with Ipswich Town forward Liam Delap in the past 24 hours and FourFourTwo could see that move happening - but perhaps not until the summer.
