Wood would go great guns for Arsenal
An English football writer claims Arsenal should sign All Whites striker Chris Wood if they lose captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or Alexandra Lacazette.
Aubameyang is reportedly the target of a £50 million (NZ$100 million) offer from English Premier League rivals Manchester United and Italian Serie A club Inter Milan also have him on their shopping list while Spanish club Atletico Madrid are reportedly interested.
Matt Scott, an Arsenal fan whose great grandfather played for the Gunners, told talkSport that Wood – Burnley’s top scorer this year – reminded him of former Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud, a World Cup winner with France.
‘‘So they are going to have to look at another centre forward and, believe it or not, I believe it should be Chris Wood!’’
Wood, like Giroud, had a respectable strike rate in the Premier League, Scott said.
‘‘Giroud’s minutes-per-goal ratio in his last few seasons at Arsenal was unbelievably good, he’s a real finisher and I think you’ve got one in Chris Wood at Burnley as well.’’
Wood would fix that, said Scott, who formerly wrote for The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph and is now a columnist for the Inside World Football website.
‘‘Wood is an absolute identikit to Giroud, in football terms. He’s not necessarily the quickest, but I think he’s quicker than Giroud.
‘‘He’s got a chance conversion rate of 1 in every 4.8 [chances], and when you compare that to 1 in every 6.5 for Lacazette, he’s a finisher.
‘‘I think you can’t scoff at what a good goalscorer Chris Wood is.’’
Wood, now 28, has scored 31 goals in the last three EPL seasons since joining Burnley in a $26 million transfer from Leeds United.
He was left sitting on 11 goals – a personal EPL record – when the current campaign was suspended until the end of April due to the coronavirus threat.