With Mikel Arteta preferring a half-fit Kai Havertz to Viktor Gyokeres, it looks increasingly like Arsenal made a mistake with their expensive summer purchase.

Having had a gaping hole where a striker was supposed to be, Arsenal spent £55million to bring Gyokeres to the club last summer after an impressive stint at Sporting.

But after six matches of the new Premier League season, the Swede has played just 56 minutes and his benching for the fixture against Leeds was a telling sign of where Arteta sees him in the pecking order.

Have Arsenal then made a rather expensive mistake? Gyokeres was not the only name they were linked to, but what about their other targets?

Here are the strikers that were on Arsenal’s radar and what they are up to these days.

Late in the process, it felt like a two-horse race between Gyokeres and RB Leipzig’s Sesko as Arsenal were reportedly close to a deal before talks with the German club frustrated them.

Manchester United found it easier to negotiate when they presented a bigger bag of money and he moved there in the summer of 2025.

He has not really exploded into life in the Premier League, with 17 of his 30 Premier League games last season coming off the bench.

He looked good for the minutes he did play. His 11 goals were just one three shy of Gyokeres, who played 595 more minutes, and those strikes were often match-changing for United.

Arsenal were linked with Watkins long before Gyokeres came into the equation, but were never able to get a deal for the Englishman done.

His six-year stint at Villa came to an end in the summer after he threw a minor strop to force through a move to Al Hilal. A salary of €600k a week was the reason why.

Since moving to Saudi, he’s got four goals and four assists in his five matches and only signed a one-year deal, so may be back in Europe at some point.

Aston Villa’s answer to replacing Watkins was Jackson, who was linked to Arsenal back in the summer of 2025.

He had fallen out of favour with Chelsea and Arsenal were reportedly planning a £41m move for his services but that ultimately came to nothing, with the player instead heading to Bayern Munich for a season-long loan.

This past summer, he joined Villa where he scored two Premier League goals this season.

With a £30m release clause and 12 Premier League goals for a relegated side, Liam Delap was the potential bargain buy of the 2025 summer and plenty of top clubs felt the price was too good to be ignored.

The likes of Newcastle, Manchester United and eventual signees Chelsea were linked but Arsenal were also reportedly interested.

He moved to Stamford Bridge and was a well-publicised flop but has landed on his feet after a permanent move to Nottingham Forest.

Arsenal, though, will see it as a bullet dodged, with Delap yet to prove he can play for one of the top clubs.

Twenty-five goals for Lille put David on the shortlist of a lot of top European clubs, including Arsenal.

They were linked with the Canadian in 2025 but always seemed an outside candidate.

Arsenal turned their attention elsewhere and instead Juventus signed David.

He did, though, struggle at the Italians with just six goals in 36 games and has been loaned to Atletico Madrid for this season.

His stint at Madrid, though, has been altogether more fruitful with three goals in four La Liga games, including one in the Madrid derby.

Arsenal’s links with Thuram date back to 2023, when he was at Borussia Monchengladbach and plenty of clubs were interested in signing him as a free agent.

The winners of that race were Inter Milan, who gave him a deal until 2028.

He’s got 54 goals since moving to Inter, including three this season with the San Siro side currently top of Serie A.

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