Arsenal's (faux?) renaissance started with a 5-2 thumping of Reading on Monday but Arsène Wenger still wants more goals and has turned to Schalke and Holland's potent striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
The Times claim the Gunners have started formal talks over a deal for the Dutchman, who is demanding a £100,000-a-week salary along with a three-year contract.
Pressure is on Wenger to strengthen a squad which is in need of some seniority, but with Huntelaar's contract set to expire in the summer the infamously prudent Frenchman may be patient rather than shelling out millions in January.
Huntelaar, 29, is a player Wenger should have signed four-and-a-half-years ago when he was scoring goals galore in the Eredivisie with Ajax. A predatory poacher in the vein of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arsenal have lacked an outstanding goalscorer in the post Thierry Henry era, with the exception of Robin van Persie.
Huntelaar celebrates scoring against Arsenal in October
Olivier Giroud has improved after a timid start but probably does not the potency or presence of Huntelaar, who has also played for Real Madrid and Ajax.
Should the Dutchman join Arsenal his move to the Premier League would be a long overdue one. Although he had a decent if brief spell with Madrid, Huntelaar's spell in Milan was as miserable as it was ill-advised. He lasted one season, scoring nine goals, and emerged as one of the scapegoats of the post-Carlo Ancelotti era.
English football has always stood out as the natural platform for the 'Hunter', whose underachievement in Madrid and Milan should not be used as proof he is out of his depth at a Champions League knockout side. He has scored 34 goals in 59 games for Holland.
Huntelaar struck in both Champions League ties against Arsenal for Schalke as the 2011 semi-finalists topped their group, chiefly thanks to taking four points off the north London side.