Jovetic could bring out best in Walcott and change way Arsenal play

Stevan Jovetic’s displays leading the Fiorentina line may be a pivotal reason why the club have defied expectations to sit fourth in Serie A this season, but the fact remains that he is not a typical centre forward.

Jovetic continues to be heavily linked with a summer move to Arsenal and with the club still not having a regular scorer of goals, his arrival may well be welcomed by supporters.

But Gunners fans beware, Jovetic is not in the mould of Alan Smith, Ian Wright, Thierry Henry or Robin van Persie and if he is to be the next lynchpin of their attacks, a new style of football may be in the pipeline at the Emirates.

Jovetic tends to drop off into space and this brings a key emphasis on teammates not only getting close to support him, but also running beyond him.

The Montenegrin has found success this season with Adam Ljajic just behind him and Arsenal have Santi Cazorla, who is capable of similar close passing and creativity.

Perhaps the one fault of Cazorla though is his desire to run into space beyond defenders, instead preferring to drop off and play the passes.

Jack Wilshere has shown a growing desire to break the last line and he could profit from Jovetic’s arrival, but it will be young whippets Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain that could be of utmost importance in springing offside traps and drifting into space from wide areas, in a way that Pedro has done so expertly in recent times at Barcelona when Lionel Messi drops deeper.

Reports suggest that Fiorentina want £30m if Jovetic is to be prized away from Florence and although this is an amount that Arsene Wenger would have previously baulked at, it looks time for his transfer policy to change.

However, his budget will also have to seemingly accommodate a new central midfield arrival, given Wilshere’s injury proneness and the news that Abou Diaby is out for another nine months as surgery is required to repair a knee problem.