Arsenal urged to push for Christian Pulisic in January window

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By Martin Graham | 14th Dec 2022

Emmanuel Petit has urged Arsenal to make a move for USMNT star Christian Pulisic as they seek replacements for Gabriel Jesus.

The 25-year-old’s injury has put the Premier League leaders in a tough spot and while they have Eddie Nketiah to count on, they are still looking to shore up their attack in Jesus absence.

The former Manchester City man will be out for the next three months at least and Arteta is hard at work looking for how to solve the problem of his absence as the Premier League prepares to resume on Boxing Day 2022.

Many targets have been identified including Atlético de Madrid’s João Felix, Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk and AS Roma striker Tammy Abraham. However, Petit, who played for Arsenal between 1997 and 2000, thinks his former club should make a move for Chelsea man Christian Pulisic.

The 24-year-old has battled injury and coaching choices since he signed for Chelsea in 2019 and has been unable to win the battle. Talks of his exit from the club have been ongoing for a while and Petit believes that Arsenal should make a move for him now that his place at Chelsea is under threat.

Petit told the media: “You could see with Pulisic like he was playing with revenge at the World Cup. He was so good for the USA and he deserves to play regularly at another club. I think he’s the exact kind of player that Arsenal need.

“Now that Gabriel Jesus is out I think he’d be a great option. Just like Hakim Ziyech, you can see his head is not with Chelsea right now and seeing them both miserable – they don’t deserve it.”

Petit also stressed the need for Arsenal to go all out for reinforcements across multiple areas of the pitch in the January window. “They need reinforcements in the transfer market,” he added. “There was talk about Goncalo Ramos and although he scored a hat-trick against Switzerland, I think it’s too early.

“He didn’t have any impact against Morocco. No headers, no runs, no hold up. [Wilfried] Zaha from Palace, [Allan] Saint-Maximin from Newcastle or Pulisic from Chelsea would be my three they should target. Pulisic will fit perfectly with what Arteta wants, he loves playing one-touch football with good movement and he lives in London so it will be an easy switch.”

Arsenal will resume their Premier League title charge against West Ham United on Boxing Day and will hope their fellow Londoners do not cut short their five-point lead at the top of the table.