Mika Biereth has scored 24 goals in 35 games this season (Image: Getty)
dropped a transfer clanger last summer but is at least well-positioned to make amends. The Gunners’ former academy player, Mika Biereth, is on a red-hot streak in France after being sold on the cheap.
Biereth joined Sturm Graz for just after spending three years on ‘s books without making a senior appearance. The Austrian side were impressed by what they had seen from Biereth after taking him on loan in 2023/24, and their instincts proved to be correct as he kicked on again at the start of this season.
With 14 goals in 25 games for Sturm Graz, Biereth was snapped up by AS Monaco in the January transfer window. And he has caught fire since landing in Ligue 1, scoring three hat-tricks in his first 10 games, including against Reims last time out.
The 22-year-old is averaging a league goal every 56 minutes at Monaco – the kind of numbers that will make chiefs wince, having seen his value skyrocket after sanctioning a cut-price sale.
Biereth’s price had tripled within six months of his exit, with Monaco forking out to lure him away from Austria. And the flying forward’s incredible form will only have made him even more expensive.
Injuries have left Mikel Arteta desperately short of attacking options (Image: Getty)
The Gunners would have to swallow their pride and pay the price for their mistake if they set out to re-sign Biereth. But a move is seemingly there to be done, with the London-born Danish youth international admitting last year that he would love to return to the Emirates Stadium one day.
“If I keep playing well and scoring goals, hopefully a change can come,” while still at Sturm Graz. “A return back to would be fantastic, but it’s not something I’m focusing on right now.”
Watching Biereth tear up Ligue 1 will be especially painful for Arteta given his lack of options up front. and Gabriel Jesus will both miss the rest of this season through injury, with midfielder Mikel Merino shoehorned into an unfamiliar striker role in recent weeks.
Utility man Leandro Trossard can also fill in through the middle. But without so many of their key attackers, the Gunners’ Premier League title chances are slipping away with each passing game, and they now sit 13 points behind leaders with only 11 matches to play.