Arsenal fans say 'they'll never forgive' the club after realising how much they sold wonderkid for last summer

Arsenal may well need a striker to help propel them to success - but the Gunners sold a forward just last summer who has found the back of the net plenty of times this season.

The Gunners narrowed the gap to Premier League leaders Liverpool to four points following a 2-0 victory yesterday over relegation-threatened Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.

Two late goals from midfielder Mikel Merino, who came on and operated as a striker, ensured three points for the Gunners.

Merino was used by Mikel Arteta as a forward after Chelsea loanee Raheem Sterling struggled to make an impact in the encounter.

The Gunners are currently experiencing a shortage in the striking department following Kai Havertz suffering a hamstring injury in training which has ended his season prematurely.

He has joined Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli on the treatment table as Arteta faces a lack of options at the top end of the pitch.

The North London outfit failed in a January transfer window approach for Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins and Arteta himself admitted the Gunners were 'disappointed' they were unable to bolster their striking ranks last month.

But last summer, Arsenal sold an academy product who has been scoring goals for fun this season.

Arsenal sold forward Mika Biereth for £4m last summer to Austrian side Sturm Graz.

The 22-year-old Denmark under-21 international originally came through the youth ranks at Fulham before moving to the Gunners in 2021.

Biereth was named on the bench for the Arsenal first team on several occasions, but never made an appearance for the North London club.

Instead, his time was spent out on loan at Dutch side RKC Waalwijk, Scottish Premiership outfit Motherwell and then at Sturm Graz.

After scoring nine goals in 22 games during the second half of the 2023-24 campaign at the Austrian Bundesliga side, his move to the club was made permanent in the summer.

Mika Biereth. (Image: Getty)

This season, Biereth netted 14 goals in 25 games for Sturm Graz and his strike rate in the box led to a January move to Ligue 1 side Monaco for a reported €13m and €2m in possible add-ons.

Across all competitions, Biereth has seven goals in as many games for Monaco and netted a hat-trick in his new club's 7-1 thrashing of FC Nantes.

Biereth's rich vein of form in front of goal has prompted Gunners fans on social media to lament what could have been if they had kept the forward, as well as taking aim at the club's former technical director Edu over the decision to sell the youngster.

One wrote: "2021… Edu Gaspar I will never forgive you for selling Mika Biereth.. he should have been Arsenal’s main striker."

Another posted: "We could have given Mika Biereth a chance."

One said: "Another day to lament about the selling of Mika Biereth. Many of us knew he was class."

Another wrote: "Man we should have held on to Mika Biereth. Absolutely no reason we let him go in the same window as Nketiah & replaced neither of them."

One said: "Edu, I told you Mika Biereth looked good man why didn't we just give him a few games when we desperately needed a striker."

And one fan posted: "Selling Mika Biereth for 4m was the stupidest thing we could have done."