This season continues to be a roller coaster for Arsenal and their fans.

All the optimism and excitement brought about by the win over Tottenham Hotspur in the North London derby last Wednesday was entirely undone by the 2-2 draw with Aston Villa on Saturday, which has left them six points adrift of Liverpool in the Premier League.

For once, the defence and midfield were more to blame for the dropped points than the frontline, but that doesn’t mean attacking reinforcements still aren’t essential for this team to reach their true potential this season and beyond.

So, recent reports linking the club with another goalscoring forward are no surprise.

Arsenal chasing Serie A striker

The player in question is not the much-talked-about Dušan Vlahović, who has been consistently touted for a move to the Emirates; it’s someone even better.

Indeed, according to a recent report from Italian outlet Play.it, Arsenal are ‘crazy’ about the idea of signing Inter Milan star Marcus Thuram.

The report has revealed that Mikel Arteta and the Gunners have been longtime admirers of the French forward and ‘would like to bring him to the Premier League right away.’

However, Inter are understandably unwilling to sell the star forward this month, and if the North Londoners are to secure his services in the summer, it could cost them up to €70m, which is about £59m.

It might be a costly and complicated transfer to get over the line, but given how well Thuram has played this season, it’s one worth fighting for, especially since he’s even better than the club’s other Serie A target, Vlahović.

How Thuram compares to Vlahović
So, if Arsenal are currently interested in both Vlahović and Thuram, who should they splash the cash on, and how can we determine which one is the better centre-forward?

Well, the first thing we should do is look at their raw output from this season, and this is an area where the Inter ace comes out looking far more impressive than his Serbian rival.

For example, in just 26 appearances, totalling 1749 minutes, the “world-class” Frenchman, as dubbed by Wolfsburg sporting director Marcel Schäfer, has scored 14 goals and provided six assists, equating to an average of a goal involvement every 1.30 games or every 87.45 minutes.

In contrast, the Juventus star has scored 12 goals and provided two assists in 24 appearances, totalling 1880 minutes this season, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.71 games, or every 132.28 minutes.

Unfortunately for the former Fiorentina star, the one-sided nature of this comparison only grows when we take a look under the hood and compare their underlying numbers.

For example, in almost every relevant metric, the former Borussia Mönchengladbach star comes out ahead, including but not limited to actual and expected non-penalty goals plus assists, progressive passes and carries, shot and shots on target, goal and shot-creating actions, key passes, successful take-ons and more, all per 90.

Ultimately, Arsenal’s need for a lethal attacker has become impossible to ignore this season, and while Vlahović would undoubtedly be a brilliant addition to the Gunners’ squad, Thuram appears to be more effective than him in practically every department.

Therefore, while it’ll cost them an arm and a leg, the North Londoners must do what they can to bring the Frenchman to N5 this year.