Everton could have signed reported £61m Barcelona target for just £14m

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Premier League Everton would surely have jumped at the chance to bring La Liga star Alexander Isak to Goodison Park if they knew what he’d become.

Forget that ‘new Zlatan Ibrahimovic’ tag.

Alexander Isak is making a name for himself in his own right, proving in the sunshine and sleet of San Sebastian that he has more than enough in his locker to follow in the footsteps of arguably the greatest Scandinavian footballer of all time.

The 20-year-old already appears to have everything a top centre-forward could ever wish for. At 6ft 4ins and with an explosive burst of acceleration in his boots, Isak has the physical gifts as well as the technical ones.

A lethal finisher off both feet, Isak has produced 14 goals during a sensational debut season with a Real Sociedad side chock-full of potential superstars-in-waiting. Two of those 14 efforts came during a stunning 4-3 win away at Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals too, this swaggering centre-forward producing a stunning acrobatic finish before lashing a second into the top corner in a manner Zlatan himself would have been proud of.

And, according to Goal, Borussia Dortmund’s loss could be Barcelona’s gain with the Catalan giants willing to invest £61 million in a player who, for whatever reason, was never given a run of games in the yellow and black of BVB.

Though while Dortmund fans might be wondering just what on earth their club was thinking, with Isak’s prolific, 14-goals-in-18 games loan spell at Willem II last season seemingly going unnoticed at the Signal Iduna Park, the Swede’s rapid rise might also have Everton wondering what might have been.

The Liverpool Echo reported in 2017 that Everton had a long-standing interest in a then-17-year-old wonderkid who had set records tumbling and left scouts open mouthed in his native Sweden with AIK. Back then, Isak was valued at £14 million – a hefty sum for a 17-year-old but a sum that, with hindsight, was worth paying.

Because, just three years on, Isak could become Barcelona’s new £61 million number nine.