After a disappointing month that almost entirely dismantled their Premier League title charge, Arsenal look back to their best.
The North Londoners blew Nottingham Forest away at home before blitzing Sporting CP and West Ham United away to reignite their campaign and give their fans reason to hope.
However, with Liverpool now firmly in the driving seat, Mikel Arteta and Co must also think ahead to ensure they don’t encounter similar attacking issues that plagued them prior to the international break next season.
Fortunately, that seems to be happening, as recent reports have linked the club with a forward who’s been compared to Thierry Henry and someone who’d help Bukayo Saka reach yet another level.
Arsenal transfer news
According to a recent report from Spain, Arsenal are still incredibly interested in Newcastle United’s star striker, Alexander Isak.
In fact, the Gunners are so desperate to bring him to the Emirates next year that the report claims they are prepared to make a club-record offer of €135m to make it happen, which converts to about £112m, or £7m more than they paid for Declan Rice last summer.
It would be a monumental sum of money to spend on a single player, but given his sensational ability, it could be worth it in the long run.
Moreover, the 25-year-old has been compared to the legendary Henry in the past and would surely form an incredible partnership with Saka.
Isak’s comparisons to Henry and potential partnership with Saka
So, before looking at how he could help Saka reach another level, let’s examine this comparison with arguably Arsenal’s greatest player of all time, Henry.
In this instance, the comparison was made in April 2023 by sports presenter Daniel Hussey, who described the Swede as possessing “Henry vibes” following his mercurial assist for Jacob Murphy against Everton, and when you see it, it’s hard to disagree.
The former Real Sociedad ace races down the left-hand side of the pitch before dancing into the penalty area, beating four defenders and delicately dinking the ball into an almost empty net for his teammate to poke home.
It’s this ability to utterly humiliate defenders, particularly off the left, that makes so many fans and pundits make the comparison between the two players, especially as, like the Frenchman, the Toon star is more than capable of starting on the wing as well as down the middle.
However, beyond the positional similarities and the way in which the 25-year-old so often curls the ball into the back of the net like the former invincible, his attacking output is why so many clubs are after him and why he’d be a dream partner for the Gunners’ number seven.
Isak’s Newcastle record | |
---|---|
Appearances | 80 |
Starts | 67 |
Minutes | 5683′ |
Goals | 40 |
Assists | 7 |
Goal Involvements per Match | 0.58 |
Minutes per Goal Involvement | 120.91 |
All Stats via Transfermarkt |
For example, since joining the Magpies, the Solna-born monster has scored 40 goals and provided seven assists in 80 appearances, which equates to a goal involvement on average every 1.70 games.
Moreover, the “world-class” poacher, as dubbed by Eddie Howe, was utterly sensational last season, scoring 25 goals and providing two assists in 40 appearances, which is an even more impressive average of a goal involvement every 1.48 games.
In comparison, the North Londoners’ new starting striker, Kai Havertz, has scored 23 goals and provided eight assists in 70 appearances for the team, which equates to a goal involvement every 2.25 games.
So, if Saka has been able to rack up an outrageously impressive tally of seven goals and 11 assists in 18 appearances this season, just think how much more effective he’d be alongside the Magpies ace.
Ultimately, Arsenal are already an incredibly dangerous team in attack, but were they to add Isak to the mix in 2025, then they would reach another level entirely and there is no knowing how many goal involvements Saka would be able to amass alongside him.
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