Arsenal star who was sold by Wenger is now outscoring Jesus & Havertz

After two years of coming painfully close, Arsenal will be hoping its third time’s the charm in the Premier League this season.

Unfortunately, after picking up maximum points in their first two games, Mikel Arteta’s side dropped two points at home against Brighton & Hove Albion in their last match, although they did have to play much of the second half without club-record signing Declan Rice due to a second yellow card that has caused a fair amount of controversy.

That said, while the North Londoners are somewhat on the back foot, they have the quality and firepower to push on regardless and ensure Manchester City get no more breathing room from here on out.

However, for as talented as Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus are, and for as useful as their goals will be over the next ten months, both were outscored by a former Arsenal player last season, a player sold by Arsène Wenger.

Havertz & Jesus’ recent form

So, while Havertz didn’t have the easiest start to life in North London last season, a positional shift from midfield to centre-forward saw him develop from a player some might’ve described as a passenger into one of the team’s most effective stars.

In all, the German racked up 14 goals and seven assists in 51 appearances for the Gunners, but in the 18 games he played as a number nine, he returned a seriously impressive haul of eight goals and seven assists.

This means that he averaged a goal involvement once every 2.42 games across the whole season but once every 1.2 games as the team’s central striker.

Moreover, in encouraging signs for Arteta and the fans, the 25-year-old has kept up his impressive form this season, netting twice and providing one assist in his first three games.

Now, things aren’t quite as rosy for the incredibly talented Jesus, but that is not entirely his fault. Injuries saw him miss 16 games last season and have already caused him to miss two matches this year.

That said, when he was fit and firing last season, he was magnificent, racking up eight goals and providing eight assists in 36 appearances, equating to a reasonable average of a goal involvement every 2.25 games.

If Arsenal can keep both Havertz and Jesus fit for the rest of the season, then they have a great chance of ending their two-decade title drought, yet a striker sold by Wenger over six years ago actually outscored the pair of them last season.

Olivier Giroud’s incredible career

Yes, the former Arsenal star in question is Olivier Giroud, who’s had quite a career at both the club and international levels.

The North Londoners signed the striker from Ligue 1 side Montpellier for just £12m after he led them to the title in the 2011/12 season, and over the next five and a half seasons, he would score 105 goals and provide 37 assists in just 253 appearances for the club.

However, the signing of Alexandre Lacazette in the summer of 2017 saw his minutes reduced, and then when the Gunners wanted to add Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang into the attack the following January, Wenger opted to sell the then 31-year-old to Chelsea for £18m, netting a nice £6m profit in the process.

During his time in West London, the Chambéry-born poacher made 119 appearances, scored 39 goals, provided 14 assists, won another FA Cup – to go with the three he won with Arsenal – and was part of the squad that lifted the Champions League in 2021.

The next step in the “outstanding” marksman’s journey, as dubbed by former professional Danny Mills, was a move to Italian giants AC Milan, where he truly thrived and played a vital role in the Rossoneri’s first Scudetto triumph in 11 years, in his first season.

The following campaigns saw him continue his impressive goalscoring form, and last season, he racked up a seriously impressive tally of 17 goals and nine assists in just 47 appearances for the Serie A Titans, a tally that eclipsed both Havertz and Jesus.

Giroud has since moved to MLS side LA FC and looks set to conclude his career alongside Hugo Lloris, who captained him to World Cup glory in 2018. So far, he has netted once in six appearances, although given his track record, we’d be stunned if he didn’t explode this season.

Ultimately, Giroud has enjoyed a stellar career since leaving Arsenal and will likely go down as one of the most underrated strikers of the modern era.

However, while he was able to outscore the Gunners’ striker options last season, he is coming to the end of his career, and even though selling him to Chelsea back in 2018 wasn’t ideal, the club made the right decision as it helped to make space for Aubameyang, who at his pomp was outrageously effective.