Reliable French source L’Equipe have claimed that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger will step up his pursuit of 21-year-old French striker Paul-Georges Ntep in January.

Olivier Giroud has led the line all but on his own so far this season with Nicklas Bendtner proving to be a useless back up, and youngsters Chuba Akpom, Benik Afobe, Joel Campbell and Yaya Sanogo all either injured or on loan, so a striker seems to be the most likely import this winter.

Despite a long list of names being mentioned for potential moves – including Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, Manchester City’s Edin Dzeko and United’s Javier Hernandez – Wenger is likely to go back to his age-old technique of buying cheap after splashing the cash in the Summer.

Ready to spend?...

The Gunners boss spent a club record £42.5million on German midfielder Mesut Ozil on transfer deadline day, a move which has paid off massively in the months after his arrival.

And Wenger was comfortable with the fee for Ozil, who has lifted Arsenal to the summit of the Premier League:

"Of course, it's a big responsibility to spend that amount of money,” Wenger told the club’s official website back in October.

"But I feel comfortable with it because we had the money to do it.”

"If we have to spend the money to do that, I will spend the money."

…Not likely!

However knowing Wenger, the policy that has seen him make profits on the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie in recent seasons will more than likely see him spend low in his former area of expertise – the French divisions.

And Paul-Georges Ntep is definitely a Wenger kind-of-buy. A relatively unknown 21-year-old, Ntep is a Franco-Cameroonian striker with 3 goals in 8 appearances for Auxerre so far this season.

Having played for France at every level from U18 to U21, Ntep’s path is similar to that of Summer signing Yaya Sanogo, who has struggled with injury since joining Arsenal (also from Auxerre). Yet his 7 goals in 14 for his country surely proves that this youngster is worth a risk.

Expensive risk?

“His possible departure will depend on the offer, which should be huge, but there is nothing concrete so far, but it will also depend on our situation in January.” Was the challenge from Auxerre chairman Guy Cotret.

“We won’t let him leave if we are in competition to get promotion to Le Championnat.”

Cotret’s “huge offer” is likely to be in the region of €10million – considered to be a big spend for Arsene Wenger before the Ozil deal.

However this is a small price to pay for a back-up striker who isn’t Nicklas Bendtner.

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