Benjamin Sesko. Ivan Toney. Viktor Gyokeres. Victor Osimhen. Aleksander Isak. Those are just a few of the numerous strikers that Arsenal have been linked with since last summer. 

Sesko in particular seemed the closest, with reports suggesting personal terms were agreed in principle before the summer, only for the Slovenian forward to fluff his lines at the European Championship. 

Toney, too, was heavily linked with a move in absentia as he spent months on the sidelines after a ban for breaching betting rules, but it would appear his destiny lies elsewhere after missing out from Brentford's squad at the weekend. 

No shortage of names, and yet Arsenal have remained firm and refused to be drawn into a deal for a No 9 just because they've been told - repeatedly - that they won't win a Premier League title without one. But is that really true?

Sure, it would be easy to just look at the last two attempts and use that as evidence to suggest that, well, it would appear they can't, but that would maybe be a touch simplistic. 

Kai Havertz scored his ninth goal for the Gunners in 17 appearances as a striker on Saturday

Arsenal scored 91 goals last term - more than five of the last 10 Premier League winners - and were only five behind a Manchester City side that have a man who lives, breathes and functions purely to score goals in Erling Haaland. 

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Not bad for a side without a player with the 'natural instinct for scoring' or who  'just knows how to be in the right place, at the right time', or any other stock phrase that Pep Guardiola proved largely groundless back in 2020-21. 

In simple terms, Mikel Arteta's attack - or at least the current iteration of it - is constructed around Kai Havertz coming deep to occupy the space in between the lines as a false nine. 

This then creates a vacuum, sucking either one or ideally both centre halves in his wake towards the ball, which duly creates huge gaps for Bukayo Saka or either Leandro Trossard or Gabriel Martinelli to steam into and exploit. And you would be hard-pressed to argue that it doesn't work. 

There is more to Havertz's game than being just a false nine - at 6ft 4ins he's a brilliant aerial threat as demonstrated against Wolves - but in essence that is the system that brings the most out of the squad. 

So no, Arsenal don't have a player that can score 25 league goals a season or more through the middle, but across their front line they have a depth of goal-scoring options that would rival most teams. 

Saka bagged 20 last term in all competitions, closely followed by Trossard (17), Havertz (14), Martin Odegaard (11), Martinelli and Jesus (eight). Arsenal's starting back four on Saturday against Wolves got 11 between them last season. Only one outfield player played more than 450 minutes last season without scoring, and that was No 6 Thomas Partey. There are goals everywhere.

Arteta has built an offensive system that brings the best out of his best player, Saka, and is specifically designed to harness the power of his wingers and get them into goal scoring positions, rather than channel the threat through his nominated striker. 

You could argue perhaps that actually relying on three or four players to get around 15 goals a season is more pragmatic than hoping for your striker to reach 25-30. If Haaland should be sidelined for six months, that is a bigger loss than if Havertz should miss the same period, or Trossard, say. 

'With Arsenal they seem to have all the players score goals, and I think that's the way that Arteta wants to win,' Daniel Sturridge told Mail Sport at the launch of Amazon Prime's Champions League coverage.  

'He wants to win with a team that scores goals across the pitch. What Havertz brings to the table is special and he's a great team player alongside Jesus. You have wingers who score goals there. Maybe they'll sign a left winger who can score goals as well.

'Saka is always pitching in but Martinelli's not as consistent on the left, Trossard scores when he comes off the bench. I feel like if the manager wants to change his style he'll sign an out-and-out goal scorer but I don't see that happening.'

The signs were there from very early on in the Arteta era that his system relied on his wide attackers scoring the goals rather than his striker. 

Clips emerged from training showing the manager's work on getting his wingers to receive the ball with their back to the sidelines and facing out towards the pitch, to encourage the positive, aggressive first touch into the danger area, rather than be stifled by a defender. 

That touch immediately has the winger angling in towards the centre of the pitch, rather than going back to their own defender or attempting to turn and take on their marker - in the time it would have taken to spin and get away, Saka is already five yards down the pitch and gearing up for a cross. 

'I feel like if you have goal scoring wingers you don't need a striker that's going to score 25 goals a season. But equally, you could have a striker that does score 25, and wingers that can't get 20. So what's the way you want to score goals? Do you want your wingers to score the goals and have a striker that pitches in? 

'Typically if it's a false 9 [you want] around 10-15 league goals, with wingers scoring 18-23 if they're having an amazing season like Saka or [Cole] Palmer. But open play goals, you want players to be in double figures. 

The way the Gunners build up and approach attacks is hardwired for their wingers to make an impact. Havertz or Jesus coming deep brings the possibility for Odegaard to make diagonal slide rule passes that bring Saka and Martinelli or Trossard into play to devastating impact. 

'When you look at how Arsenal play, Odegaard will play passes in between the centre half and the left back that split them so that Saka can make that diagonal run, it's very rare they play that ball in behind the centre half,' Sturridge added.

'If I was to play for them I'd have to play a different style which is why when you look at Havertz or Jesus they work. If you have out-and-out goal scorers then you can't have goal-scoring wingers - you can have one, but not two and a striker because then everyone will be trying to shoot. 

'It becomes less fluid. The best teams historically have one of the three make the sacrifice and say "I don't have to score" and you have to have the flow and camaraderie in your attack. If you have that you're able to create scoring chances, you're not forcing it.'

For all that, Havertz has still got 17 goal involvements in 14 games as a striker for the Gunners (nine goals, eight assists). For your player that takes the back step in front of goal to allow others to flourish, you can't ask for much more. 

Questions were raised over his £65m price tag as the popular chant among Gunners attests to, but after an initial shaky period of bedding in, he is proving to be one of the club's more shrewd acquisitions in recent years. 

Arsenal don't have an out-and-out No 9 among their ranks, but rather than splash £100m or more on a conventional No 9, Arteta has decided to utilise the frightening talents that he already has at his disposal and bring the best out of his side.  

Arteta is not re-inventing the wheel in north London, far from it - he's is just adding some new alloys to a design already pioneered by his former mentor Guardiola.