Arsenal expert Charles Watts fears that the Gunners have "missed the boat" for a January move for Wolverhampton Wanderers' Matheus Cunha, in spite of the recent intriguing developments surrounding the Brazilian.
The Gunners have been credited with an interest in Cunha for the entirety of the winter window, although it was reported a couple of weeks ago that Wolves were set to ward off interest from Mikel Arteta's side by tying the attacker down to a new contract.
However, Cunha's renewal is yet to be officially sealed, and tongues were sent wagging once again on Monday evening in the aftermath of Wolves' 3-1 loss to Chelsea, where the ex-Atletico Madrid man failed to acknowledge the travelling supporters.
Wolves boss Vitor Pereira subsequently criticised Cunha's body language and admitted that the striker could have been distracted by the outside noise, although he expressed his belief that the 25-year-old remains committed to the Old Gold.
While Watts would welcome Cunha to the Emirates with open arms, he is fearful that the Gunners have taken too long to get a move wrapped up this month, telling Sports Mole: "What the manager said certainly seems to have stirred things up again. We know that Arsenal like Matheus Cunha, but the signs were he's going to be signing a new contract. That contract has not been signed yet and the longer that goes on, you wonder what the delay is.
"I'm sure there's been contact behind the scenes with people at Arsenal and his agent will be well aware of what's being offered elsewhere. Maybe that's stopping him from signing this new contract. I think he'd be really good at Arsenal. I like Matheus Cunha and I'm sure he just looks like a player who's ready to make the next step, maybe that's what he's thinking as well. But the fact is that the clock is ticking.
"There is still stuff to play for for Arsenal this season, but it does feel like this was a window of any window if you're going to act very, very quickly. It's easy for me to say of course, I'm not involved in these deals. But as this window drags on and still nothing happens, they've taken too much time to get stuff over the line.
'Arteta has been crying out for help'
"They've gone out of the FA Cup, they're hanging on by their fingernails in the Carabao Cup, they've fallen further behind in the league. It feels like they've been caught napping in this window when they should have attacked it very, very early on and got the help that Mikel Arteta has been crying out for. I don't want to say too little too late, but it does feel like Arsenal have missed the boat in this window."
Thanks to Kai Havertz's strong form at the end of last season and Gabriel Jesus's availability, the Gunners did not see the need to go all out for a new striker ahead of the 2024-25 season, although that risk has now backfired heavily.
Jesus is guaranteed to miss the rest of the season with an ACL injury, meaning that Arteta's only two recognised strikers are Havertz and Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, a 22-year-old academy product who has not yet made his senior Arsenal debut.
Havertz had also experienced a confidence crisis in front of goal before netting the Gunners' second in their 2-2 draw with Aston Villa at the weekend, and Arteta has affirmed several times that the club are looking at the market for reinforcements in January.
While the likes of Newcastle United's Alexander Isak, Sporting Lisbon's Viktor Gyokeres and Napoli's Victor Osimhen are all regarded as unattainable this month, Watts does not buy into the notion that Cunha also falls into that category, using Omar Marmoush's imminent switch to Manchester City as an example.
"I don't really look at Matheus and think he's absolutely not available at the start of January," Watts added. "Look at Man City and Omar Marmoush. Top scorer for Frankfurt, they're third in the league. You'd have looked at that and thought he's totally unavailable.
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Could Arsenal be using Trossard tactic in Cunha pursuit?
"But Man City went out and got it done. Maybe they paid extra, but they went out there, showed intent and got it done. You can't overpay for players every single window, but this felt like a window when Arsenal probably should have done that."
Finances are not expected to be an issue for Arsenal this month, but the Gunners have previous when it comes to leaving it late to strike January deals, signing both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (2018) and Jorginho (2023) on deadline day.
The Gunners also waited until the third week of the 2023 winter window to bring Leandro Trossard to the club from Brighton & Hove Albion after his falling-out with Roberto De Zerbi, paying just £20m upfront for the Belgian.
Watts therefore wonders whether Arteta and co are employing similar tactics with their Cunha pursuit, adding: "I suppose the longer you wait in these windows, you can see if you can get yourself a a good deal right at the end, or you can see if players can start agitating for a move.
"Maybe that was their tactic with someone like Cunha, or maybe that's the tactic that we're now seeing play out. We saw that with Trossard a couple of Januaries ago. He wasn't in the team at that point because he'd fallen out with De Zerbi and then Arsenal got quite a good deal because of that.
"Maybe they're thinking that's something they could do with Cunha this window. There might be some sort of tactics in play when it comes to it. But I still do feel this was a window they needed to attack early doors."
Any hope of a January deal for Sesko?
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As well as Cunha, another European hotshot Arsenal have been tipped to move for in January is RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko, who was on their radar for a summer move before opting to pen a contract extension at the Red Bull Arena.
The Gunners' interest in the Slovenia international is not believed to have dwindled, but his agent has played down the chances of a summer move, and Watts does not feel that the "awful lot" of money Arsenal would have to pay to strike a January deal would make sense.
"I think Leipzig are very, very keen to keep him. And if Arsenal are going to get that one done, they're going to have to pay an awful lot more than they would in the summer for it," he added.
"Maybe this is a window you need to overpay for just to get someone in, but if you have to overpay by a huge amount, then it makes more sense to wait. If Cunha came in the summer, I don't think that would be the end of Arsenal going for attackers.
"I think they'd still sign a Sesko type player in the summer as well. But no, to be honest, it's pretty quiet, and it's not what Arsenal fans want to hear, I know. But at the moment it is, and we'll have to wait and see. Two weeks, there's still plenty of time left, but the clock is definitely ticking."
Havertz will continue to spearhead the attack for Arsenal's Champions League showdown with Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday evening, where Arteta could welcome two players back from injury.
Ben Knapton
