Arsenal's striker search is going nowhere - the Gunners should halt that hunt and swoop for Chelsea's Noni Madueke before he gets away

If the three years of this Chelsea ownership group have taught us anything, it's that you can never predict what BlueCo are going to do next. When Todd Boehly had control of transfers for a short period as interim sporting director, he sought to continue the work of Roman Abramovich's tenure, spending lavishly on proven superstars such as Raheem Sterling and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Once more of a structure was put in place - not necessarily a coherent one, but a structure nonetheless - the strategy pivoted to becoming a rich man's Brighton, casting the net wide to secure the game's premier young talent.

That's how Madueke ended up at Stamford Bridge. In January 2023, the Blues spent close to £100 million (€117m/$134m) on him and Mykhailo Mudryk to improve their options on the flanks. Two-and-a-half years on, Madueke is seemingly up for sale and Mudryk has been charged with doping offences.

Ahead of 2025-26, Chelsea will have Madueke, Pedro Neto and Palmeiras' teenage sensation Estevao Willian competing for minutes. They are also expected to restart talks with Borussia Dortmund over Jamie Gittens after the Club World Cup, while Cole Palmer has been tested on the right again as Enzo Maresca looks ahead to another lengthy season on multiple fronts. Given their propensity to conduct business erratically and without rhyme or reason, you can't rule out another winger coming through the Cobham doors this summer.

That, in part, is why Chelsea are a bit more open-minded about a Madueke sale than they were a few months ago. He isn't being forced out, but it appears increasingly likely they are heading towards a parting of ways. That feels a lot more plausible than beginning the new season as a starter.

Right, there is a very short and simple answer to this question. No. Obviously not. There is no chance any logical supporter even thinks this is up for debate, mostly because it isn't.

However - and this is a big 'however' - do you reckon Madueke either thinks this right now, or at least thinks it could be true in the near future? The answer could be yes. You can argue that would be a sense of misplaced arrogance, but professional athletes are often wired different to the average human. And this isn't to put words in Madueke's mouth. This is all based in theory. It's a fun one, is it not? 'Does Madueke think he could be as good as or better than Palmer?' Come on, that's a doozie.

Personal football coach Saul Isaksson-Hurst, who has worked with Madueke for over four years, admitted in an interview with Football.London that the winger has tried to add bits of Mohamed Salah to his own game, and that his mindset is a massive asset.

"Noni has tremendous self-belief - and so he should," Isaksson-Hurst said. "He is one of the top young talents in world football but there is no arrogance there. He understands talent is nothing without hard work. He is also genuinely one of the nicest guys in football and very humble.

"I can only talk about my experience with Noni and I've said it many times before, I've never come across a more hard working and determined individual. This guy is a mentality monster."

Let's have a gander at what's going on in N5. Arsenal have made little progress in their bid to add a new striker to their squad. Though Viktor Gyokeres is said to prefer a move to the Gunners over Manchester United, dealmakers in north London are refusing to give in to Sporting CP's demands. Similarly, RB Leipzig are playing hardball over Benjamin Sesko, and there are also concerns over personal terms with the Slovenian.

In all likelihood, Arsenal will open 2025-26 with Havertz starting up front again, even if they do get in a new striker. That may be underwhelming, but it could be the best port of call, particularly given how tricky their first few Premier League fixtures are. They need to hit the ground running, and Havertz is a solid bet for double figures of goals as long as he stays fit.

In this day and age, you don't necessarily need the most prolific or traditional of No.9s in order to claim major honours. Liverpool leant on wide forward Salah and a rotating cast of other versatile attackers to win the Premier League. Paris Saint-Germain ended their Champions League hoodoo with touchline winger Ousmane Dembele in a central role. A frontline with Havertz in the middle of it finished only a point off the top in 2023-24. There is a blueprint for Arsenal to succeed without the a centre-forward being pivotal to their transfer plans.

Arsenal fans' desperate plea for more goals and dynamism in attack has overlooked the possibility of a winger being their marquee signing this summer. Whoever that is doesn't even need to be on Salah's level either, rather combine the scoring instincts of a declining Leandro Trossard with the liveliness of a wasteful and one-dimensional Gabriel Martinelli.

Links to Rodrygo, who could leave Real Madrid, are continuing to linger as well. With the Gunners on the lookout for a player of both his skillset and calibre to take them to the next phase of their project, it feels like a no-brainer should the Brazil international actually hit the market. At this point, wage demands may also seem prohibitive, but at some point Arsenal are going to have to commit money to somebody.

There would be shades of Mesut Ozil in 2013 and Alexis Sanchez a year later about any Rodrygo swoop, except this time Arsenal are actually ready to compete for the game's most major of honours. Alas, it's a window of opportunity that has not yet opened and may not until the very end of the window, by which time the Gunners will be preparing for a massive early-season trip to Liverpool. They cannot afford to be chasing in another title race, given their rivals from Anfield have already added Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong to their ranks for a full pre-season.

On the face of it, Madueke's return of eight goals and four assists for 2023-24, plus 11 goals and five assists for 2024-25, don't leap out off the page or screen at you. They're serviceable numbers for a serviceable player. However, context is key and so is predicting what those numbers may look like in the near future.

Chelsea have chaotically bounced around from one arm of their project to the next in each year that Madueke, who only turned 23 back in March, has been on the books. Despite the mayhem, he has developed into a full England international and continued to maintain an upward trajectory where others have fallen by the wayside. There was also a static and pedestrian pace with which Maresca's Blues could be slowed down into at times, with their wingers left isolated and unable to make much happen just because of how teams would defend them.

Yet scratch beneath the surface and that's where Madueke's potential as a more prolific outlet lies. Per stat whizzes FBRef, he is already in the top 66th percentile for non-penalty goals, though is boosted to the top 94th for non-penalty expected goals, 93rd for shots in total and 87th for non-penalty expected goals plus expected assisted goals. He is also the very top 99th percentile for progressive carries and 96th for touches in the opposition's 18-yard box. To break down the jargon, Madueke is a constant threat in the final third and is some improvements to his finishing away from becoming a player who can hit double figures of goals, perhaps on a routine basis.

The eye test further suggests Madueke is a menace. His bad games are rarely quiet ones, rather they are wasteful instead, which can be more fatal for a team a level or so lower than Arsenal. The mechanics of Madueke's game are a lot cleaner than Martinelli's, with the Brazilian failing to kick on over the last couple of seasons when the opposition have thrown more and more double teams at him.

What makes Madueke even more of an interesting target for Arsenal is he has now shown to be a more than capable performer on the left wing as well as his preferred right. With Chelsea struggling in the race to qualify for the Champions League in the final weeks of 2024-25, Maresca swapped Neto and Madueke's starting positions to great effect. After the England man returned from a hamstring injury at the start of April, the Blues won six of their remaining nine Premier League matches, losing only once, and even that came as a result of Nicolas Jackson's early red card at Newcastle.

In that timespan, Madueke returned only one assist and did not score domestically. Again, that doesn't tell the whole story. The directness and power with which he was able to attack defences on his natural side opened games up for Chelsea in ways they didn't before, such is their reliance on their wingers making magic happen on their own. Now imagine if he had a better support system around him, both on and off the pitch. Almost every major signing Arsenal have made since returning to prominence has kicked on and stepped up, especially those in Madueke's age bracket.

Madueke could come in as a potential starter on the left for the Gunners, but also provide the cover they've so desperately needed for an overworked Bukayo Saka. High-level wingers who can play on both wings don't grow on trees. Waiting for Rodrygo could pay off, though it would also bite Arsenal in the backside if they stand still and start the season slowly. Madueke is not guaranteed to leave Chelsea, but it does seem far more possible he will be off over the next few weeks than Madrid's Brazilian winger. Barring a miracle, Arsenal have already missed out on Nico Williams too.

Bringing in Madueke and potentially even flipping Martinelli, who is drawing interest from Bayern, would even leave Arsenal with some wiggle room to go back in for a Rodrygo or an equivalent later in the window should an opportunity arise. These are the moves around the fringes which could end the Gunners' title drought as much as any big-name striker would.