An Arsenal Kofane move is on the table for January, with BBC Sport reporting that the Gunners are considering a move for Bayer Leverkusen striker Christian Kofane as Mikel Arteta looks to solve the one problem that has shadowed his side’s title defence.
Arsenal have won nine of their opening ten league games to sit five points clear at the top — yet six of those nine wins have come by a single goal, and the champions have leaned heavily on Kai Havertz as their focal point up front.
Havertz, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka are the club’s joint-top scorers in the league with three goals each, while Havertz has been caught offside 15 times this season — more than any other player in the Premier League. Arteta admitted after the 1-0 win over Hull that his side must improve in front of goal, saying: “We need to find ways to be more efficient, sometimes even more pragmatic. Sometimes my feeling is that we are trying to score a perfect goal against these low blocks. We need to be much more chaotic than that.”
Arsenal Kofane: why the Gunners want a new striker
The search for a prolific goalscorer has been running for some time. Arsenal pursued ambitious deals for Julian Alvarez, Vinicius Junior and Kenan Yildiz after winning the title last season but were unable to extract any of them.
Meanwhile, Viktor Gyokeres — signed for £63.7m in the summer — has started just once in the league, and Arteta has been reluctant to use the Swede. That has prompted speculation that Arsenal could be forced into the market in January, and Diario AS reports the club are even considering selling Gyokeres and Mikel Merino in an attempt to balance the books.
Who is Christian Kofane?
Kofane is a 20-year-old Cameroon striker in only his second season of top-flight football. He moved to Spanish second-tier side Albacete from AS Nylon in Cameroon in 2024, scored eight goals in 20 LaLiga 2 games, and joined Leverkusen in July 2025.
He scored five goals in his debut Bundesliga campaign last season and has three goals in six appearances in all competitions this term, taking his Leverkusen tally to ten goals and nine assists in 50 games. He is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, but Sky Sports Germany reported in October that he is keen on a Premier League move at some point.
His name will already be familiar to Arsenal supporters: Kofane started both legs against the Gunners in the Champions League last-16 last season as Leverkusen lost 3-1 on aggregate, though he did not score in either game.
What a January move would mean
A move for Kofane would fit the profile Arsenal have chased all year: young, quick and available at a price well below the marquee names they failed to land in the summer. Whether the Gunners firm up their interest into a bid will depend on Gyokeres’ future and the fitness of the current front line.
For now, Arsenal’s joint-best start in 140 years has been built on control rather than firepower. Saka is targeting a return for the Real Madrid clash on 9 December, and the Gunners are away at Newcastle on Saturday 21 November when the Premier League resumes. For more on the weekend’s fixtures, check today’s predictions. talkSPORT reports that BBC Sport has identified Kofane as an option Arteta is considering.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0, Fuguito) — collage by SportsBuddy.
