The ex-Arsenal man scoring goals for fun at Monaco

Mika Biereth's 13 goals in 15 games have helped Monaco qualify for the Champions League next season

As Arsenal approach the end of the season without a trophy or a recognised striker, there is a player who was on the Gunners' books 12 months ago who is now one of Europe's most prolific goalscorers.

Mika Biereth has scored 13 goals in 15 Ligue 1 games since arriving at Monaco in January, having initially left north London to join Sturm Graz for about £4m including add-ons last summer.

The 22-year-old scored three hat-tricks in February alone, registering 10 goals in his first 10 games for Monaco and earning a first senior cap for Denmark.

Only Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, with 18, has scored more goals in Europe's top five leagues since Biereth arrived at Stade Louis II.

Arsenal's top league goalscorer in that period is makeshift forward Mikel Merino, with five.

"I'm happy to find myself at Monaco and enjoying myself in life and in football and everything is working really well," Biereth, who never made a first-team appearance for the Gunners, tells BBC Sport.

"I wouldn't say that my career path has been the most linear or most easy to predict. I think that there has been a lot of moving around and a lot of different places and a lot of different cultures.

"That helps when you do make it and a move to Monaco - you can adapt really quickly and things go really well."

Biereth's journey to Monaco

Biereth was scoring goals for Fulham at youth level when he grabbed the attention of scouts at Arsenal.

The Gunners have changed their academy recruitment in recent years, adopting a more targeted approach when signing young players, with Biereth and goalkeeper Tommy Setford, who joined from Ajax, examples of this.

The highly rated Setford may be an academy signing but the 19-year-old has been training with the first team since he arrived and made his debut in the Carabao Cup earlier this season, while Biereth was one of the early changes to the club's recruitment at that level when he signed in 2021.

What Arsenal really liked about Biereth, who was born in London but in addition to Denmark also qualifies for England, Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina, was his personality and characteristics alongside his goal-scoring ability.

But Biereth joined when boss Mikel Arteta had established Arsenal's possession-based style, and the pathway to the first team was tough for a young forward who describes himself as an "old-fashioned" striker.

That wasn't to say that Biereth would never have had a chance, particularly with the recent injury crisis Arsenal have suffered, but it would have just been more difficult for him.

He went on loan to Dutch top-flight club RKC Waalwijk in 2022, scoring two goals in 13 games in a spell he says "wasn't the most ideal", before moving to Scotland with Motherwell the next season, where he scored six goals and supplied five assists in 11 league starts.

Another loan spell at what he calls the "next level" arrived with Sturm Graz in the Austrian Bundesliga before Biereth joined permanently last summer, scoring 14 goals in 25 games including two in the Champions League..

His goalscoring exploits since arriving at Monaco saw him make his debut for Denmark in the Nations League in March.

"I'm quite a simple striker, a bit old fashioned in terms of not too bothered about build-up play and looking pretty and appearing in too many YouTube highlights," he explains.

"I stick to my job and try and do it as efficiently as possible, and that is score goals.

"A lot of my goals are not the prettiest ones, probably rebounds within the five-yard line and really close to the goal. That's just how I play."

Arsenal not the 'be all and end all'

Mika Biereth never made a senior appearance for Arsenal

Biereth is happy he took those decisions to test himself on loan at senior level while at Arsenal and says he was always in conversation with the club with the idea being for him to "get loaned out and get experience and then come back into the building and see how it goes".

"I think every time I got loaned out and came back into the building, there was a feeling there that there was no real opportunity," he adds.

"I'm not one of those who is just going to hang around and kick a ball around with the under-21s and hope for a little chance in training."

While Biereth might not have found the chance to break through at first-team level with Arsenal, it is felt the deal for him to leave is one that has worked out for everyone.

Arsenal feel Biereth received a good footballing education and built a good profile, with the move allowing an academy player to succeed in senior football, which is another example of success for young players - even if they don't make it at Arsenal.

For Biereth it showed that he can excel at the top level and his time at Sturm Graz showed he can score in the Champions League, something which made him an attractive prospect for Monaco.

"When you are at Arsenal, you think that playing for Arsenal is the be all and end all," he says.

"But I think once you grow up a little bit and experience some stuff in football you can see that there are many other good clubs to play at, at a top level."

Could he have helped Arsenal this season?

Biereth made his Denmark debut against Portugal in March

The obvious question for Biereth is that if he had stayed at Arsenal, would he have got the chance to play under Arteta and, ultimately, been able to score the goals to keep them in the Premier League title race for longer?

"Yeah, I think not only am I thinking that - maybe a few other people are thinking that. I think that is just how football works," says Biereth.

"When I was there, I was not really getting a feeling that there was an opportunity for me. I didn't want to wait around and hope for something lucky. I'd rather go out and prove myself and I think I have done that to a certain extent so far.

"Football is a weird sport, you can always think 'what if I didn't do this or what if I didn't do that?'

"The way I think about stuff is that I can't keep thinking about 'what if I stayed?' I'm really happy here at Monaco and playing really well and we have just secured Champions League football for next season."

Since losing starting forward Kai Havertz to injury following a 5-1 win over Manchester City in February, and with Gabriel Jesus already out for the season, Arsenal have won just four of their 12 Premier League games.

Biereth has both outscored any Arsenal player and outperformed his expected goals to a larger extent than any of his former team-mates in that period.

He may have got an opportunity at Emirates Stadium through circumstance, but Arsenal would have gone into the transfer market regardless this summer looking for a new striker.

"It's crazy to think that just two seasons ago I couldn't get a kick in the Dutch league for not one of the bigger teams," says Biereth. "But football changes really quickly."

Now he is set to play in the Champions League with Monaco next season, while attempting to help Denmark to the World Cup next summer.

"I'm really proud to first get a move to a team in a top five league and then to start playing well here," Biereth says.

"With the international recognition, it was not only a proud moment for me but my family as well.

"That's the pinnacle of everything, representing my family's country and my country and to do it really proudly."