Had Arsenal not committed to Viktor Gyökeres, they might have landed their long-standing dream striker Alexander Isak.
For years, whenever Isak’s name has surfaced in transfer talk, Arsenal have always been in the mix.
This summer, the Gunners entered the window with a clear intent: sign a striker.
They could have gone for Isak, but with Newcastle’s hefty asking price and uncertainty over their willingness to sell, they pivoted to other targets, notably Gyökeres who is now expected to be unveiled imminently.
£150m Isak still gettable as Newcastle plan Šeško move
Just as Arsenal have struck a deal for Gyökeres Isak,, the one they have admired for years, has reportedly told Newcastle he wants to leave.
Newcastle, meanwhile, are pressing hard to sign Benjamin Šeško and have hinted at a willingness to let Isak go.
So, can Arsenal still go for Isak despite signing Gyökeres?
According to The Independent, Arsenal would not need to worry about Premier League PSR regulations if they chose to pursue Isak. It would come down to the ambition of the ownership:
“The greater intrigue is that Arsenal do have the PSR headroom. Many just put this down to the ownership’s willingness to spend, and how much funds are released.”
At the time those claims emerged, Gyökeres’ deal was not yet confirmed. Now that it is essentially done, Isak remains available, and interested – though, to be fair, the fact that he apparently wants Liverpool essentially rules and Arsenal move out.
Two-striker revolution or transfer fantasy?
Andrea Berta and Mikel Arteta need to be ruthless.
Sell Kai Havertz.
Then sign Isak and go bold: a 4-4-2 with Gyökeres and the Newcastle man as Arsenal’s Henry and Bergkamp regeneration. The pair play up front for Sweden and could bring that relationship to The Arsenal.
That duo could win Arteta everything.
Accused of having a blunt attack? This would be the ultimate weaponisation of it.
Forget what Liverpool are doing – this could be the real Grand Theft Auto of the summer transfer window.
What do you think Gooners?
Daniel O
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Who will buy Havertz? Even if we sell him for half the cost no club will agree to pay half the salary he is paid at Arsenal. Same goes for Jesus.
Berta has a difficult job of cleaning the huge mess Arteta and Edu made (mostly Arteta because he was about to give us another terrible financial loss in Sesko).
Sell Havertz – YES
Buy EZE like a sunday morning instead!
No Havertz should not be sold to anyone.. very underrated player.
on overrated financials – 65M signing + 280K (if believed) wages
Another waste of funds – 45M signing + 265K (if believed) wages for a return of 20 goals in 3 seasons.
Viera – 34M
Combine all these costs to the club and you will know why we are the wannabes and not champs. Good to have Bertha, a man connected with the football world and the fans hope of good players/results.
What I think is bloggers are not managers. Thank god
What a poor low level write up. This is not child’s play you know.
Yet you commented?
Having a 2 strikers up top doesn’t replicate what Bergkamp and Henry provided. Not saying Havertz can be compared like to like with Bergkamp, but in terms of why Henry Bergkamp worked is their different forward profiles altogether, the options which Havertz and Gyokeres will provide already. It’s a better complementary pairing than what Isak and Gyokeres would provide.
The Isak talk is just that: talk
Arsenal have done their summer business, and it’s been excellent especially if Eze joins.
Let’s focus on what we have and move on with confidence into the new season
COYG
Isak and his agent obviously knew that Arsenal and Liverpool were about to sign Gyökeres and Etikie, so if he was desperate to join any of the clubs he would surely had made this stunt earlier in the window. The timing is weird. So either he is just looking for a monster contract at Newcastle or there is already a deal in place with a new club. At least something he knows can happen.
I would love Isak at Arsenal, but if we are going to spend another £130-150 to get the perfect squad, I would rather take Eze and Rodrygo right now.
Agreed! Zero point in another specialist center forward. Rather have a few upgrades on the left to give us more balance.
I agree. Isak is a generational talent and I would have loved to have him but I think buying him would have come at a cost of not doing other business that was needed to build a balanced and complete squad.
We also have to look at it from the perspective of wages. He’d most likely be demanding wages in excess of £300,000 per week. At a time when we are looking to extend the contracts for Saka and Saliba, such massive wages would be ill advised. Getting these two guys to extend their contracts is more important than signing Isak, now that we already got Gyokeres who will be on a more reasonable wage.
Isak is not a generational talent. I’ve even said it here before that I don’t rate him as much as people do. I may not be entirely correct on that but I sure know that he’s not generational…not even close
That’s besides the point. He’s a very good player, definitely one of the best centre forwards in the world at the moment. You can remove the label generational talent if you like, my point still stands.
The hate Havertz gets is unreal. Would rather sell Martinelli if we need funds. For me Havertz is still going to get lots of game time. I even feel he could be more useful at ten than Odegaard in some games due to his height and Gyokeres poor aerial ability.
I’ve always praised Havertz for his performances at CF because that’s not his position.
But I think you need to tell Arteta to stop shopping (and worst of all overpaying) for Chelsea rejects will likely make fans uncomfortable about said player and will heighten the players’ flaws in fams’ eyes.
Madueke has just arrived for almost double what he’s worth from a rival who were essentially discarding him as not being good enough to even be a substitute. Every bad move he makes on the pitch will make fans bring out their pitchforks. It’s just the way it is
I can’t get my head around the phraseology regarding former Chelsea players.
Madueke hasn’t been given a chance to show what it is about him that Arteta and Berta believe he can achieve. Havertz got pelters and proved (imo) to be a good signing after weeks of negative comments.
I can point to Willian as a mistake but the loan on favourable financial terms for one season – Sterling – which was a gamble that wasn’t fruitful. Both players were at the later stages of their careers whilst NM and KH have time on their side
Chelsea buy/bought up young talent in bundles and then it seems to me, then have too many on the books, so offload the ones that don’t suit to other clubs. I thought they were potty in the beginning, but they are able to sell well.
It’s laughable the falsehoods contained in the comment you’re replying to. It’s incredible how we can create false narratives to support our biased views even in the face of facts.
dgr is claiming Chelsea is discarding Madueke yet Maresca said just the opposite. Madueke is supposedly not good enough to start for Chelsea yet a casual google search shows he started 27 times out of 32 PL appearances(over 80%) last season. As matter of fact, one of Chelsea’s poor run of form came when he was out injured. Coincidence? I think not.
I believe dgr is not speaking for every fan with the claim that fans will bring out their pitchforks for every mistake Noni makes- that’s just ridiculous because all players make mistakes.
Most fans are reasonable and will support every player who wears the Arsenal shirt. Singling out Madueke for every bad move doesn’t benefit anyone. Not the club, not Madueke, not the fans. Might as well support him and see what he can do before drawing conclusions.
When I say he will not play at Chelsea, I’m referring to the new players they’ve signed – Estevao, Joao Pedro and Gittens. That clearly pushes Madueke off. I’m bang on the money on that.
Maresca isn’t as clueless as Arteta who will openly show the world that the doesn’t want a player hence devaluing them. Everyone knew they wanted to get rid of Madueke but they had to say he’s not for sale. How do you think Chelsea got £52m for Madueke? If he was an Arsenal player, he would have gone for free. You know exactly what I’m talking about.
As regards fans’ view of him, I was simply giving reasons why fans singled out every mistake made by Willian, Sterling and Havertz. I didn’t say it should be so (which you’ve already implied), but I’m just stating reasons why I believe they receive more criticism than other players.
Before Madueke’s arrival, 4000 signatures were penned down by some in our own fanbase against him. Don’t you think he will be slandered and slaughtered for any mistakes he makes by those same people? Again I’m saying that it doesn’t need to be so. But the harsh reality of it is that it is what happens and will likely happen
Dgr8xt right on the money you are about their manager praising the player to get value.
6 years later and we still rip up contracts. If Arteta manage low funded club he will send them into administration within 3 years.
It’s not just down to Mikel if a contract is terminated, others will also have to agree.
Arteta will find it difficult to manage a low funded club because they value their assets more than we have allowed Arteta to do at Arsenal. I blame Edu Gasper for that.
Many top managers will actually struggle to manage low funded clubs given the way football has been damaged but money but I think it would be worse for Arteta
Arsenal’s squad value has risen more than any other top four team in the last 5 years. This is related to Arsenal’s transfer strategy as well as on pitch performances. Arteta has played a significant role in all this during the last few years.
It is worth considering that keeping an underperforming asset to realise marginal value is a poor strategy if it’s going to limit your overall growth.
It’s quite remarkable that some of you keep repeating unfounded views.
I wonder how many of those 4000 signatures actually live in the UK or go to the games ? I’d hazard a guess that the answer would be a small %.
dgr8xt – I agree the overwhelming majority of both of your comments. I believe you express many harsh realities. The interesting question for me when it comes to acquiring Chelsea players is why do we appear to be simply paying their prices (which I believe most recognize as too high, especially given Chelsea’s poor negotiating position) and essentially helping a rival by doing so in the process. And then you have Kepa as an outlier here? I’m starting to wish I were a fly on the wall when the true behind the scenes negotiations are going on between the 2 clubs.
Fair points but I would reserve judgement until I see a player on the pitch. There’s really no guarantee that players like Gittens or Estevao will hit the ground running- reminds me of all the hype around Mudryk. There’s less risk with PL proven players like Pedro and Madueke.
No one can say for sure how a player is going to turn out. My point is, let’s wait and see. Everything else is unhelpful really. I’ve heard what Rice has said about Madueke in a recent interview and it was very insightful.I’d take his opinion over that of any fan.
As for Madueke’s valuation, you really have to look at the going rate for young homegrown attackers of his level. I’d put him in the same category as Elanga, who went to Newcastle for slightly more.
Yes Arsenal have not been as good as Chelsea with regards to sales, but isn’t that one of the reasons why they brought in a new Sporting director?
So you expect Rice will speak honestly even if he does not rate him high?
The worst opinion one can take is that of a teammate because they will always speak highly of each other for PR purposes.
I know most players are media trained and say all ‘the right things’ but I’ve never got that impression from Rice. He’s one of those rare players who just speaks his truth.
I came to this conclusion after watching several interviews from him. That is why I referenced him and not any other player,even though many other players have talked highly about Madueke. Ben White is the other player who also says it how he sees it.
Besides, it’s easy to tell when someone is doing the PR thing and when they are being genuine, if you can read between the lines. These people are human too after all.
So if Rice does not rate any teammate you really think he will say so publicly? Even if asked?
I’ve said all I can on this issue. Obviously you disagree and that’s fine. I hate protracted arguments that lead to nowhere; it’s a waste of time and energy. How about we just agree to disagree?
New Sporting Director. Yes.
Tomiyasu still had his contract ripped up only days ago. My fear is that the issue of Arsenal player contracts might not be an issue Berta can solve immediately. It might take time. It’s a very terrible culture which Edu Gasper made a norm at our club. Without apology, I say “GOOD RIDDANCE TO EDU”
Tomiyasu obviously is a special and isolated case. His contract being terminated was the best outcome for all parties involved.
By the way, I don’t think it was all up to Edu. Seems to me like a sacrifice sanctioned by the owners that had to be made to create room for squad rebuilding. Some of those players on high wages would have never moved otherwise.
Berta may end up having the bigger legacy, but that is no reason to downplay Edu’s achievements. He may not be perfect but he arrived at a time when we were drowning in mediocrity and oversaw the progress of the team from mid table to second. I’ll always be grateful for that.
Sick and tired of all players whose contracts have been terminated being called “special case”.
There are too many of them for all to be special cases.
Maybe the real reason I want Arteta out of Arsenal is that one beautiful day I can wake up and enjoy JA without these beyond ridiculous excuses. 6 years now and going strong. There is so much a man can take.
So Tomiyasu having injuries and then having his career effectively curtailed is a “ridiculous excuse”. The arrogance, parochialism and self-centredness of certain so-called fans is quite something.
Why not Jesus too?
Let me enjoy your attempt to twist it.
We just need Eze now and that’s all.
Eze can be dribble and create chances for Gyokeres to finish.
Isak is an amazing striker, no doubt! My worry is his fitness, missed a good junk of games for Newcastle. I’d rather we go for another winger, and promote a no 9 from the academy! We still have Jesus in the team and that is different player to Gyokeres in profile and stature
We have a striker?
And can we stop this Isak BS. It will get tedius. Its going NOWHERE!!!!
I’ll take Gyokeres all day @Reggie . We ain’t signing Isak for sure. Finally we gonna have a no 9 when confirmed. It’s been long die
*meant due not die!
👍
If getting Isak meant selling Havertz I’d go for it but the big problem is who is going to buy Havertz with the wages he’s on? Arsenal won’t get much back on his transfer fee either, maybe 40mil at best?
Breaking: Diaz and Nunez not in Liverpool’s squad to play Milan this afternoon!
This is ominous; it could mean the Isak-to-Liverpool move could be on😭
Why is it ominous? Diaz and Nunez were either being chased or for sale weeks ago. Diaz is one of their best players. Its more of, they will need to replace one of their best players. Newcastle hold all the cards and wont let Isak leave for less than 150 mil. Isak isn’t the Messiah anyway. Plus Liverpool would have to replace Diaz as well as buy Isak for 150. I doubt that will happen. Not this season at least.
Plus Liverpool have bought their striker like we have bought ours.
With £100+ from the sale of the duo, Liverpool can buy Isak and a winger (Rodrygo maybe). Have you thought about that
There are also talks of possible Nunez to Newcastle to sweeten the deal.
Anyway, I’d like to share your optimism that Isak will not sign for Liverpool this window
They will not get 100 mil for both?
And whatever you read, teams will not pay much for Nunez and Diaz woukd need replacing and to get same quality, they may need to spend Diaz money, THEN still fork out 150 for Isak. It may or may not happen but not this summer.
Liverpool clearly have lots of money to blow. If Diaz and Nunez go it’s extremely likely they fork over the money for Isak. They don’t need to sell them for 100mill either. They’re also getting wages off the books as well. I think it’s likely they do get him
But Diaz will need replacing as well. So far, its all media talk that Liverpool are the only club that would buy Isak. First, they have bought a striker and second, it would mean Liverpool going outside of their model. That wouldn’t be done lightly. Plus Newcastle haven’t got to sell Isak, he still has 3 years left on his contract.
And Diaz was one of their best players.
Reggie, Ekitike can play all across the front line, so Liverpool might see there’s no need to replace Diaz.
Sure, just sell Havertz and buy Isak. Simple.
Except this would be two huge deals worth in excess of 200 million in transfer fees and many tens of millions more in wages over the course of the contracts. It would involve many, many people across all the different involved parties, multiple agents, sporting directors, managers and executives.
These deals are never as easy as people think they are and presenting it is simply a case of ‘sell Havertz and buy Isak’ is hugely naive/ignorant.
I know the writer likes to get defensive in the comment section of his articles but this one makes him look pretty silly. It’s not impossible, but it sure as hell isn’t simple. And it isn’t just a case of Arsenal showing ambition/ruthlessness. It is highly unlikely because it would just be very hard to do.
Wrong Dan ,if that was what you was getting at 😂
Arsenal should just break the bank once and for all, Go for Isak.
That would be Brutal …
That would be irresponsible. And it won’t happen🤪
isak is not coming here no matter what. thats a closed discussion. Selling Kai doesn’t make sense this window. Next summer if he’s still not within expectations I’d hope we would look to move on from him. Espescially if he ends up just becoming a backup option in the squad he’d be on way too much money for that role. Finding a seller would be hard of course and this is why you dont offer silly wages to gamble players.