Arsenal have been urged not to target the "next Thierry Henry" in the transfer market and instead acquire a marquee striker who's ready to deliver in their pursuit of winning the Premier League title.

The warning was courtesy of club legend David Seaman, given the Gunners were expected to target a No.9 last summer as well as in January. The proposed forward was billed as the missing piece to Mikel Arteta's squad, who had finished second to Manchester City in the league two years in a row.

However, the Spaniard didn't bring in a striker and subsequently suffered a crisis in attack with Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus suffering season-ending injuries in recent weeks. Arteta has also had to contend with the absence of Bukayo Saka for a number of months after the England forward tore his hamstring in December.

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Even with their injury crisis, a striker was not signed in the January transfer window, and with the Gunners now 13 points behind league leaders Liverpool, albeit with a game in hand, many fans are beginning to concede the title to Arne Slot's side, who require just six more wins to lift the trophy.

Seaman admitted that Arteta must bring in a striker this summer and retained faith that the ex-Arsenal captain has not yet come to the end of his time at the club – although admits the manager's future could well depend on getting the striker signing right for next season.

"Everybody can see at the moment the one position that is really needed is a striker," he said on the Seaman Says podcast, brought you by Betway.

"They're all saying that there's someone lined up for the summer, but it's about now, and you might not get to that long-term project because you end up getting sacked. And then another manager comes in with new ideas.

"I don't think [Arteta] has taken us as far as he can yet, because I think that Arsenal fans will look at what we've got now, knowing that we need a striker."

The former goalkeeper urged the north London club to target a player ready to fire the team to a title instead of a young up-and-coming star like Henry was when he joined Arsenal from Juventus in 1999 at the age of just 21.

"Get a striker in the summer, a proper, marquee one, a finished article," Seaman urged. "Not a young one, like we got a young Thierry Henry or a young Nicolas Anelka back in my day. I want a finished article.

"If you can guarantee they're going to be as good as [Henry and Anelka], fair enough – but you can't. So I want a marquee signing, and then let's see what happens."

The fact Arsenal legend Seaman is urging his old club – where he still visits the training ground each week – to potentially ignore the chance at signing the 'next Henry' in favour of a ready-made goalscorer shows just how desperate the situation is for the Gunners, who need to start delivering trophies – especially for Arteta's sake.

While Henry went on to become Arsenal's all-time top scorer, he had a slow start to life under Arsene Wenger, with the Frenchman scoring just one goal in his first 12 league games.

Seaman warned Arteta that he will not be afforded the same time as his ex-coach considering the sizeable investment he's made on transfers in the last few windows.

RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko and Newcastle United's Alexander Isak have both been linked with Arsenal this season, although neither would come cheap if they were pursued come the summer.

Ollie Watkins was targeted in January, but Aston Villa rejected Arsenal's £60m offer. It remains to be seen if they will go back in for the 29-year-old England international, who was a boyhood Gunners fan.