'I played with Thierry Henry at Arsenal - this is why Julian Alvarez would be a special signing'
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Julian Alvarez can be the "special, special" player Arsenal are missing in attack, says former Gunners player John Halls.
Arsenal are working to bring the former Manchester City player back to the Premier League, with Atletico Madrid said to be open to talks in a bid to stop the wantaway player joining rivals Barcelona.
It will be a tough deal to pull off, with Atletico said to have given Alvarez until Sunday evening - two days before the summer transfer window shuts - to resolve his future.
Mikel Arteta is reportedly driving Arsenal's interest as he wants to upgrade an attack which at times last season underwhelmed despite the Gunners' Premier League title success.
And Halls, who came through the ranks at Arsenal in the early 2000s, believes Alvarez is a clear upgrade in attack.
Halls, speaking exclusively to , via casino.net said: "I love Alvarez and would love him to sign ... by the sounds of it, Atleti won't sell to Barca, so that leaves us at the moment, right? So this is now getting a little bit more real!
"I loved the boy when he was at City. He was great. He can score some goals [and] can strike a ball, we know that, and we can get a bit of creative play out of him as well. You can play him in numerous amounts of positions, but I'd love to play him in that No9 role.
"As much as I love, [Kai] Havertz and [Viktor] Gyokeres, we missed something special there, and he's that special, special player that might go and get us 25 to 30 goals a season.
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"When Gyok came in last season, I did say, if he can get 10, 15 goals [that's] amazing. Do I think he can get more than that? I'm not sure. Does he give us that much to his feet? I'm not sure."
Asked if Alvarez is a better fit for Arsenal’s footballing philosophy, Halls says:
"When you have that sort of No9 dropping in a little bit, you can get the wingers running in behind, running across the line, which creates more problems.
"Just knowing that we can get the ball into [Alvarez's] feet, and he can do a little bit of magic, and he can link up with [Odegaard].
"He could slot right into that team beautifully. Like we always say, he's played the Prem, he knows what it's like so he could be up and running quickly."