The bloggers, fans and press continue to link Arsenal with big names such as Podolski, which appears unlikely now, but we have to ask in a team formation using a sole central forward, why would you come? Particularly when the sole striker in question is the most in form goal scorer in Europe.

So for me, the solution is to apply some logic based on what we know – Wenger very rarely spends big, certainly not in January, with the exception of Arshavin, and he prefers to buy potential. We must also concede that unless Wenger reverts to a 4-4-2 so a big named target may be unlikely. In addition, we also have Afobe in the pipeline and Joel Campbell to return in the summer. All this suggests that any big bucks will be spent on goal creation and not goal scoring, so we might be back to using the scouting network and plucking another gem, as Wenger has so often.

This being the case I would like to nominate a player who I believe will be playing alongside our skipper for the Dutch national side in the very near future. His name is Bas Dost, who at the tender age of 22 and at a towering 6 ft 5 inches, is the top scorer in the Dutch Eredivisie, with 14 goals in only 13 matches this season for his club SC Heerenveen.

In all competitions, he has scored 19 goals and all of them can be viewed on the clip below. He is everything Chamakh should be, but isn’t. He scores screamers, headers, poacher goals and penalties. In fact, only last month Dost scored all the goals in a 5 nil victory over Excelsior, 3 headers and 2 with his right foot.

Dost is not a flash in the pan as he scored 13 in 32 for Heerenveen last term as well. He is 18 months into a 5 year contract and although he only cost Heerenveen £2 million from Heracles in May 2010, given his goal scoring exploits, we could assume closer to £10 million now, even though various websites have his value at only £5 million. In addition, since moving to a top club, he has become a regular for the Dutch under 21 side and hit the net 5 times in 10 appearances. Whilst the Dutch league is not what it once was, top talents have been plucked from the Netherlands to go to England, Germany, France and Italy was the past 30 years.

Arsenal of course has a tradition here with Helder, Overmars, Bergkamp, van Bronkhorst and currently RVP, which I hope would not be lost on Bas Dost. Also, the thing in Arsenal’s favour is the chance they provide to Dost to play alongside RVP, who would most certainly be a hero to this young player. Whist Heerenveen have improved with Dost at the vanguard of their attack, they still only lie 7th in the Eredivisie and therefore even Europa League football is unlikely to be available, should Dost stay put.

At Arsenal, Dost could be on the bench in the Champions League as early as February against AC Milan. One must assume that regular game time for Arsenal between now and June would further enhance Dost’s chance of going to Poland and the Ukraine with the Netherlands.

Keen to hear any views but I am struggling to see the downside here. We have the money that SC Heerenveen could not refuse, given the lack of it in Dutch football at present, and I am sure Dost himself would jump at the chance. Bottom line is that if Arsenal doesn’t go for him, someone else will.

Written by Dave SeagerFollow him on Twitter @goonerdave66

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