Arsenal kicked off 2025 in the best way possible on Wednesday night with a comfortable win away to one of the best-attacking teams in the Premier League, Brentford.

Mikel Arteta’s side went 1-0 down early on, but they remained composed and showed their quality by regaining parity in the first half and putting another two past the Bees in the second.

There were brilliant performances across the pitch for the visitors, but one of the stand-outs was, once again, Gabriel Jesus, who scored the goal that kickstarted the Gunners’ comeback.

The Brazilian has been in fine form over the last month, so reports linking the club to another striker who shares a few similarities with him should intrigue fans.

Arsenal transfer news

According to a recent report from Football Transfers, Arsenal have considered a move for Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford this year.

Interestingly, while the report claims that ‘a lot of pieces would have to fall into place for a move to materialise,’ it has also revealed that the Gunners have been contacted by the player’s representatives.

According to the story, a loan is off the table, and as things stand, the North Londoners would be unwilling to pay anything more than £25m for the Englishman, as any potential purchase would be made with the intention of him coming in initially as a squad player.

While this feels like a transfer that’s unlikely to happen at the moment, there is still a long way to go this month, and as contact has already been made, there is clearly something here.

Moreover, while it’s a move that might not excite the fans, there are some undeniable similarities between Rashford and Jesus, who’s in a fine vein of form at present.

Rashford's similarities to Jesus

So, before we get onto a couple of upsides to signing Rashford this year – yes, there are some – let’s examine his similarities to Jesus.

So, the first is that, like the Brazilian, the United ace is a forward who has been played down the middle and out wide for significant portions of his career.

This flexibility is also surely something that would ingratiate him to Arteta, who has shown over his tenure how much he appreciates players who can play in multiple positions.

Now, the second similarity is not necessarily a good one, but it’s a similarity nonetheless, and that is the fact that both forwards have been deemed surplus to requirements by one of the two main Manchester clubs.

Finally, the pair are both 27, have plenty of Premier League experience, are capable of moments of magic and have won trophies during their time in the northwest.

Appearances

24

25

26

Minutes

1500′

1705′

1433′

Goals

7

6

4

Assists

3

2

3

Goal Involvements per Match

0.41

0.32

0.26

Minutes per Goal Involvement

150′

213.12′

204.71

On top of all that, the “electric” 60-capped Englishman, as dubbed by Statman Dave, has also racked up a reasonably impressive haul of 23 goal involvements for the Three Lions and, as things stand, has more goal involvements this season, ten, than Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli, who have seven and eight, respectively.

Ultimately, while fans might not be thrilled with the links to another player who has lost their way with a rival, Rashford has shown enough during his time with United that there is still a talented attacker in there.

Moreover, Arteta is crying out for more goals on the left-hand side, so this could be a gamble worth taking, but only time will tell.

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