Arsenal have finally secured the signing of Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus.
The Gunners were crying out for a forward this summer with Alexandre Lacazette waving goodbye to the Emirates Stadium and despite Eddie Nketiah penning a new deal, it always appeared unlikely that the north Londoners would rely on the academy graduate for the campaign.
Jesus has elected to wear the number nine shirt with Arsenal and follows a number of talented forwards having donned the number with the club, with some having mixed fortunes as Gunners.
Mirror Sport has taken a look at the previous players to have claimed the shirt and how they’ve done in north London, ranging from the good to the bad.
Paul Merson - 86 goals
Arguably among Arsenal’s best players in their history let alone number nines, Merson secured his place in Gunners’ history with a series of excellent showings for the north London club. Not quite an out-and-out forward, Merson still managed to plunder 86 goals for Arsenal during a 12-year spell with the side.
Despite having never quite managed to have led the club to a Premier League success, the 21-time England international still managed to win two top division titles, as well as the FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup.
Nicolas Anelka - 28 goals
One of iconic manager Arsene Wenger ’s first acquisitions following his arrival in north London, the French forward was somewhat of an unknown quantity when he signed for the club. That did not last for very long though.
He scored nine goals in his first full season as an Arsenal player before following that up with a further 19 strikes. Those performances caught the eyes of Spanish giants Real Madrid who ended up paying over £22m to take Anelka to the Santiago Bernabeu - a huge profit on the club’s initial £500k outlay required to sign him from Paris Saint-Germain.
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Alexandre Lacazette - 71 goals
Whilst Anelka arrived at Arsenal as a promising youngster, his compatriot Alexandre Lacazette had already emerged as a star on the European stage. Following his goalscoring displays for Lyon, the Gunners swooped for his services in 2017 for a club record fee.
He got his career in north London off to a quick start having scored on his debut but was often criticised for his finishing ability having never managed a 20-goal season at the Emirates Season. Lacazette left Arsenal this summer having scored 71 goals in all competitions.
Lukas Podolski - 31 goals
A World Cup winning striker, Podolski actually put together a pretty impressive record at the Emirates Stadium following his arrival from German outfit FC Koln. 16 goals in his first season as an Arsenal player was followed by a further 12 in his second campaign.
He struggled for game time after that and was sent out on loan to Inter Milan before joining Turkish side Galatasaray on a permanent deal. There was always a sense of Podolski never quite having matched the expectations of him at Arsenal.
Jose Antonio Reyes - 23 goals
An extremely exciting signing from Sevilla in 2004, Arsenal eventually ended up spending £17m on the Spaniard. He had a slow start to life in north London having never quite secured a set place in the side but still managed to score an impressive 12 goals in his second season with the Gunners.
He could not continue those performances and was loaned out to Real Madrid for the 2006/07 season before joining rivals Atletico Madrid on a permanent deal. Reyes went on to rejoin Sevilla before venturing into the second tier of Spanish football. He tragically died in 2019 in a car accident.
Eduardo - 21 goals
Having put together a prolific record for Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb, the Gunners swooped for the Brazilian born forward in 2007 and he enjoyed a promising start with 12 goals in his first season as an Arsenal player.
His debut campaign was cruelly cut short by a gruesome leg break, whilst he also missed large swaths of the following season. Despite penning a new contract with Arsenal in November 2009, he was on the way out soon after having joined Shakhtar Donetsk in the following summer transfer window.
Davor Suker - 11 goals
Another Croatian forward to arrive at Arsenal with a stunning goal-scoring record, Suker had won La Liga with Real Madrid just two seasons before his arrival in north London. He wasn’t quite at his best when he signed for the Gunners though.
He scored 11 goals in his one and only season with the club before a switch to West Ham United.
John Hartson - 16 goals
Signed from Luton Town ahead of the 1994/95 to give the Gunners a different element up-front, Welsh international Hartson ended up spending just under three seasons with Arsenal but his goalscoring record was not exactly impressive.
He netted on just 16 occasions for the club before leaving for West Ham United. The north Londoners would go on to regret that decision with Harston rediscovering his goal-scoring boots at the Boleyn Ground before the striker put together a stunning record with Scottish giants Celtic.
Julio Baptista - 10 goals
A Brazilian international, Baptista was clinical with Sevilla before then disappointing with Real Madrid. He joined Arsenal on a season-long loan. Despite having only managed to score three Premier League goals for the Gunners, he added another seven in all competitions.
It goes without saying that the Gunners never pursued a permanent move for the 47-time Brazil international and he returned to Real Madrid.
Lucas Perez - 7 goals
A £17m signing ahead of the 2016/17 season as the Gunners attempted to build on a second-placed finish the season before but he only scored one Premier League goal before returning to former club Deportivo La Coruna on-loan.
The Gunners lost a huge amount on the Spanish striker as Perez quit the club just two years after signing with a £4m move to Premier League rivals West Ham United. He underwhelmed once more at the London Stadium before being allowed to join Alaves and is now a free agent following a brief spell with Cadiz.
Francis Jeffers - 8 goals
One of the most infamous signings in Arsenal history, Francis ‘the fox in the box’ Jeffers moved to north London for a then huge £8m fee in the 2001 summer transfer window having broken through at Everton.
A combination of injuries and poor form saw him score just four Premier League goals for the club over two seasons before he rejoined Everton on-loan. Jeffers was eventually sold to Charlton Athletic before what then became a journeyman career.
Chu-Young Park - 1 goal
With Arsenal having struck gold with the signing of Thierry Henry from Monaco, the Gunners attempted to repeat the trick with South Korean striker in 2011. Expectations were of course high after he was handed the number nine shirt at the Emirates Stadium.
It is fair to say that supporters were left more than underwhelmed with Park making just one Premier League appearance for the north Londoners. He left on a free transfer in 2014.
