Arsenal confident of signing £115m “nightmare” who’d be their own Gyokeres

Arsenal’s victory against Sporting CP in the Champions League last night makes it back-to-back wins for the club for the first time in almost two months.

Mikel Arteta’s side looked utterly lost just a few weeks ago, but the return of Martin Odegaard and a well-timed international break have seemingly breathed new life into the team.

From attack to defence, the Gunners were immaculate in Lisbon and even managed to keep the sensationally gifted Viktor Gyokeres from adding another goal to his ever-growing tally, unlike Premier League rivals Manchester City.

That said, even though the Swedish international failed to score, he remains one of the most dangerous strikers in Europe, so Arsenal fans should welcome recent reports linking them to another prolific centre-forward who could be their own Gyokeres.

Arsenal transfer news

According to a recent report from Spain, Arsenal have maintained their intense interest in Newcastle United star Alexander Isak.

In fact, while the report reiterates the Magpies’ desire to keep the incredible striker beyond this season, it also reveals that Arsenal are increasingly confident that their project and trajectory will be enough to convince the £120k-per-week poacher to join them.

A price is not mentioned in the story, but a report from TEAMtalk earlier this week claimed that the Toon will demand a fee of at least £115m for their goalscoring machine, making it a potential club-record deal for the Londoners.

It would be an incredibly costly and challenging transfer to get over the line, but given Isak’s unreal ability, it would be worth pursuing, especially as he could become the Gunners’ own Gyokeres.

Why Isak would be Arsenal’s Gyokeres

So, just why would Isak be Arsenal’s answer to Gyokeres? Well, it’s two-fold, and the first reason is incredibly straightforward: they’re both Swedish.

Yes, like the Sporting ace, the Toon star is an incredibly important player for the Swedish national team and, since winning his first senior cap back in January 2017, has gone on to make 50 appearances for the team, in which he’s scored 15 goals and provided six assists.

For his part, the former Coventry City star has now won 26 caps, in which he’s also found the back of the net on 15 occasions and provided six assists for good measure.

This brings us to the second point of comparison between the two players: the simple fact that they’re both powerful and prolific goalscorers.

For example, since moving to Portugal, Gyokeres has scored 67 goals and provided 19 assists in 70 appearances, which equates to a frankly absurd average of a goal involvement every 0.81 games.

Now, it’s true that the former Real Sociedad marksman cannot match that level of output over the last season and a bit.

However, considering he’s been playing in arguably the most challenging league in world football for a team that finished in mid-table last season, he’s done exceptionally well.

For example, since the start of last season, the Magpies’ attacking “nightmare,” as dubbed by Alan Shearer, has scored 30 goals and provided four assists in 52 appearances, which works out to a goal involvement every 1.52 games on average.

Ultimately, while Sporting’s goalscoring phenom is outperforming every striker in Europe at the moment, Isak is still an outrageously gifted centre-forward and has already proven that he can regularly put the ball in the back of the net in the Premier League.

Therefore, Arsenal should do what they can to sign the Newcastle ace as soon as possible, as with him in the side they won’t have to bother chasing Gyokeres with the rest of Europe.