'A massive 10 days' - Neville tells Arsenal to get Alvarez before deadline

Arsenal began their Premier League title defence in style with a commanding 3-0 victory over Coventry; Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard were on target at the Emirates Stadium in a dominant performance, but Gary Neville has urged them to sign Julian Alvarez from Atletico Madrid

Defending Premier League champions Arsenal would become Champions League winners if they land Julian Alvarez in the final days of the transfer window, says Gary Neville.

The Gunners have made an impressive start to the new campaign, backing up their Community Shield win over Manchester City with a 3-0 demolition of newly-promoted Coventry.

However, Sky Sports pundit Neville says Arsenal still need "a bit of magic up front" and believes Atletico Madrid's Alvarez is the player who would deliver it.

Arsenal, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain are among the clubs keen on Argentina international Alvarez, although Atletico CEO Miguel Angel Gil said earlier this summer that they do not want to sell Alvarez and would not even accept £170m for the forward.

Neville has encouraged Arsenal to test Atletico's resolve in a bid to take themselves to the next level.

"What a squad [Mikel Arteta] has built," said Neville. "If he puts another forward into that, if they could get Julian Alvarez somehow, that would light this place up as you'd have a world-class striker to go with all the world-class defenders and midfielders.

"They wouldn't just become Premier League title winners they'd go the next step and win a Champions League. It's a massive 10 days. He needs a bit of magic up front - someone that can win a game for you when you don't play well."

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Arteta insisted "the main focus has to be to improve our players and the connection between them". He noted how little Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Ben White played together down the right flank last season due to injuries.

However, Neville reckons Odegaard would be even more destructive if he had a striker like Alvarez to target.

"He [Odegaard] is exceptional. If there was an Ian Wright-type player up front for Arsenal who makes those short runs he'd be even better," said Neville.

"As [Kai] Havertz and [Viktor] Gyokeres always come to the ball, Odegaard has to play possession rather than playing the slip passes. If Arsenal were to sign Julian Alvarez then he'd go up a level as it would be perfect for the style of play."

Fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher agreed Arsenal still need something special in the attacking areas, although he reckons Odegaard and Saka are showing signs of being able to reach world-class levels.

"I still think Arsenal lack a world-class player in the front four," he said. "About two years ago I thought Saka and Odegaard would make that next step. For whatever reason it's not happened due to injuries or Arsenal not being at their best. Those two were close to getting to the levels shown by Man City and Liverpool players, like [Kevin] De Bruyne and [Erling] Haaland or [Mohamed] Salah and [Sadio] Mane. They took their teams to the title.