Imagine a striker with the work rate, link play and intensity of Alexandre Lacazette coupled with the speed and ice-cool finishing of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and one name may spring to mind, reported Arsenal target Alexander Isak.
Isak may not be the finished article yet – he hasn’t hit 20 goals in a single season and his decision-making in the final third needs some work – but, alongside Erling Haaland and Dusan Vlahovic, the man set to inherit Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s role as poster boy of Swedish football looks well placed to define a new generation of centre-forwards.
And with Arsenal in the market for a number nine – Lacazette is due to become a free agent in 2022 while doubts persist about Eddie Nketiah – a 22-year-old dynamo who epitomises everything Mikel Arteta wants from a central striker is likely to be at the top of his transfer tick-list.
Could Arsenal target Alexander Isak to replace Lacazette?
In the aftermath of Euro 2020, where Isak was the stand-out in a turgid Sweden side, AS reported Arsenal had made contact with his current employers Real Sociedad and were willing to pay every penny of his £50 million release clause.
With the ink still drying on a new deal he signed in July, however, Isak would cost a darn sight more than £50 million these days.
It’s understood his new clause stands at £80 million – more than Arsenal have ever paid for a player.
But with Isak admitting to The Independent he’d relish the prospect of proving himself in the Premier League, who could blame Arsenal fans for getting carried away?
“I’m in a good place at the moment, I’m very happy, but one day it would be nice to play in England as well,” Isak said.
“They have six or seven of the biggest clubs in the world. It’s a very high level and, of course, one day it would be an alternative.
“Every player wants to be the best version of themselves and reach the highest possible level.”
Those words seem to have got some Arsenal supporters on Twitter excited in the hopes their club target Isak in the transfer window:
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