For Arsenal it is hard to find any winger who would bring the excitement levels as well as the elite numbers that Vinicius Jr can.
So what other options do the club and sporting director Andrea Berta have?
Arsenal have come into this window looking at bringing in one or two forwards and Arteta has made it clearthat any player that comes in this season has to take the club to the next level.
Arsenal signed Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge to replace the outgoing Leandro Trossard, with the 24-year-old producing a remarkable 22 goals and 29 assists in all competitions last season for the Belgian club.
Replicating those numbers is unlikely but the Greek international has looked one of the brightest players during pre-season.
Arsenal have explored a move for Paris St-Germain winger Bradley Barcola, but Liverpool are also interested and the French side are demanding a fee of more than £100m for the forward.
Morgan Rogers, before he completed his move to Chelsea from Aston Villa for £117m, was a target but Arsenal were not willing to go above £80m for the England international.
Finding value in the market is hard and Berta is always looking to ensure that a deal represents value for the club.
Kenan Yildiz is one player from Europe who is on Arsenal’s list in a hunt for a left winger.
The 21-year-old had a seriously impressive 2025-26 season for Juventus, scoring 11 goals and registering 10 assists in 47 appearances in all competitions.
The Turkey international can play across the frontline too which adds another dynamic, which may make him appealing to Arteta.
Like all good wingers he is unpredictable and can go on either the inside or outside, which means it is hard for defenders to know if he is going to cross the ball or shoot.
And stats from Opta show that, of all players in Europe’s top five leagues last season, only Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes (98) and Werder Bremen’s Romano Schmid (77) created more open-play chances than Yildiz, while it was only Vinicius (43) who created more chances after carrying the ball than Yildiz too (37).
However, Yildiz has just signed a new four-year deal and sources indicate that Juventus are unwilling to sell him.
Atletico Bilbao winger Nico Williams is another who has been looked at before by Arsenal and would add some spark to an attack which can be criticised as being too predictable at times.
The Spain winger has a contract until 2035 with the Basque club but there are reports which suggest there is a release clause in his contract.
Williams completed 43.8% of his 153 dribbles last season, scored six goals and registered three assists in a campaign that was disrupted by injury.
According to Opta, Williams averaged 8.2 dribbles per 90 minutes last season in La Liga with only Lamine Yamal, Kevin and Jeremy Doku averaging more in Europe’s top five leagues.
Availability is a big thing for Arteta and with a potentially high price tag and after a season of broken game time, this may not be the player for the Gunners at this point.
Arsenal also have the option of continuing with Tzolis on the left while they also have Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke who can fill that role too, with Eze playing from the left in some of Arsenal’s biggest games at the business end of last season.
