Coming into this summer’s transfer window, Arsenal already knew whether they were signing Alexander Isak or not.
And with Isak keen to leave Newcastle, Arsenal, who have been chasing him since his Real Sociedad days, found themselves in the spotlight.
With the striker widely considered Mikel Arteta’s dream number nine, many were keen to see how Arsenal would respond to his availability.
So far, the Gunners have shown no signs of trying to land the Swede, with Liverpool doing the most to capture him.
Much has been said about Arsenal’s stance, but the BBC’s Sami Mokbel unpacks the situation well.
He reveals that a move for Isak was considered. Coming into this window, he was their dream signing.
But the club identified one major obstacle and agreed that the deal was not happening.
Dream signing, unrealistic numbers
Mokbel, speaking on The Highbury Squad YouTube channel, said:
“At the start of the window, there were three options.
“It was Alexander Isak, who was the dream signing, but what I’ve since discovered was that yes, it was the dream signing, but realistically, I don’t think anyone at Arsenal really thought it was going to happen.
“And certainly, some of the information I’ve had very recently has suggested that it really didn’t get off the ground because of the finances involved.
“No one at Arsenal really gave it a moment’s thought apart from it being, I don’t want to say a pipe dream because there are certain individuals at the club who wanted to make it work, but I think the numbers involved in that deal just meant it was unrealistic.”
Arsenal quickly shelved their Isak plans due to the financial implications.
Isak to Liverpool will certainly sting, but if Viktor Gyokeres sustains his goal-scoring brilliance, there should be no frustration in missing out.
Some suggest that with Isak, Liverpool might be unstoppable.
Arsenal aim for strength across the board
But with the business Arsenal have done this summer, signing Noni Madueke, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Martin Zubimendi, Cristhian Mosquera, and Viktor Gyokeres, this Arteta side, which has finished runners-up three seasons in a row, now looks stronger than ever.
Eberechi Eze is expected to close out what is shaping up to be a perfect summer of reinforcements.
Come the new season, Arsenal will be hoping that spreading their transfer funds across sensible signings, rather than splashing out on one marquee name, will pay off. It simply has to.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Daniel O
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Imagine if we were in a situation where we were still chasing Isak, VG goes to another prem club, Sesko as well, and we end up not getting Isak.
VG14 wanted Arsenal badly, and we made it happen early (well, early enough).
I’m happy with where we are right now. I think VG14 is going to surprise a lot of people.
Unleash the beast!!!!!
O.K. after seeing that guy’s physique I’ll be having Godzilla nightmares now. Thanks Reggie. 🤣
Bruised Banana,
Don’t threat, having seen his physique. He will be waring a shirt when he plays, so nothing to worry about. 😂👍
He is indeed a beast! I can’t wait to see him in prem action!
Widely reported that Isak only wanted Liverpool or Barcelona. Shame as he would have fit our system brilliantly, I think he may hold our decision not to sign him from Sociedad against us.
Ah well, I’m more than happy with Gyokeres and if Isak isn’t an Arsenal fan then fair enough, I wouldn’t want a player who doesn’t want to play for our badge.
well 130-150m £ for a bit injury prone striker. i think it’s 60million more than he is worth 90-100 tops. do think viktor can be a very good complete sttriker, and tall strong on corners etc. for 63m£
Perhaps as a fanbase we were guilty of adding more gloss on Isak than he deserved. Seems all the fuss got to him and now he’s unsettled. Initially i didn’t want VG14 as all my enthusiasm was for the younger Sesko.
After showing his determined to run out for the Arsenal I became more and more convinced that VG14 is the one. And now I couldn’t give a damn were Isak goes (honestly) largely this is because our defense is enough to keep him in his lane.
As is very often the case, money was the factor here it seems. Like the article mentions, the thought of Arsenal paying Newcastle’s apparent asking price for Isak is somewhat far-fetched, particularly against the backdrop of Arsenal’s other expenditure this summer.
After all, Liverpool have reportedly had a £110m bid for Isak rejected so they’ll have to go quite a lot higher to tempt the Magpies, I suspect.
In any case, we have Gyokeres now (at a lot less than £110m, never mind about higher) so it’s all history now.
It was a non-starter from the begging. In what world did anyone even think that we would offer what Newcastle would have wanted for him.
We quibbled over the fee we paid for Gyokeres, that should more than give us our answer, as to how much we would have been willing to pay Newcastle.
As I said a non-starter from start to finish. But it gave the papers some headlines though. 🤷♂️