Arsenal's Dubai trip hints at new role for £5.5m transfer after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang departure

With the January transfer window now finally shut, there is one area of the Arsenal squad that appears to be an obvious weakness going into the rest of the season.

Folarin Balogun has left on loan to join Middlesbrough for the remainder of the campaign, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang saw his contract terminated by mutual consent to help him facilitate a move to Barcelona.

This means that the Gunners are painfully short up front. To make matters worse, their two remaining centre forward options - Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah - have just two Premier League goals from open play between them so far.

However, as they prepare to return from their mid-season warm weather training break in Dubai, it appears that they may have found a solution.

After a tricky January that saw the squad decimated by Covid, injuries and Africa Cup of Nations absences, the decision was taken by Mikel Arteta to fly his side out to the Middle East during the wide gap they have until their next fixture against Wolves on February 10th.

"We're going to go away, we're going to have a training camp all together in a different environment, reunite, refocus and let's have a good go because there's still a lot to play for," said the Spaniard when explaining the decision following his side's 0-0 draw with Burnley.

Aside from just being a chance to get away from the stresses of the current season, the trip to Dubai also offered Arteta a chance to spend more time on the training ground with his squad.

This is something he benefited from massively during international breaks during the early part of the season, the first of which he described as his best 10-15 days in football.

While the Spaniard might have been hoping that Edu could have been