Arsenal willing to pay Alexander Isak £60m release clause

Throughout any international tournament there are always a handful of names that become impossible to ignore. Andrey Arshavin did it in Euro 2008 with Arsenal being the ones who snatched at the opportunity, and now it’s Alexander Isak’s turn.

What do Arsenal need this summer transfer window? Is it players who can help bridge the gap to Mikel Arteta’s preferred 4-3-3? Is it upgrades in four or five areas to raise the floor at the Emirates? Is it the right age profiles who can complement the exciting core developing?

There are a lot of requirements to be met this window. Centre-forward probably isn’t one of them.

While the future of Eddie Nketiah remains likely to be away from Arsenal, despite the club’s attempts to tie him down to a new contract when anyone in their right mind looking at the situation from his point of view will reject that offer, Alexandre Lacazette’s is less clear cut.

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Arsenal willing to pay Alexander Isak £60m release clause from Real Sociedad to seal big money transfer in striker department

A summer window very much in its infancy has time to change and in a split second previously dormant rumours can bubble to the surface, yet even with those two departures Arsenal are fairly well stocked for strikers.

Granted, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the only experienced option remaining in such an eventuality with Gabriel Martinelli yet to master the No. 9 role and Folarin Balogun still to taste Premier League action, but there are bodies there capable of sharing the workload of what is essentially a 38-game season.

The time will come when that has to change. If Aubameyang has another season like the one just passed then suddenly centre-forward becomes a hot topic, and even if he gets closer to his 2019/20 form he will still be into the final year of his deal with age not on his side.

So far this window Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been joined by Andre Silva in being linked with a north London move, two excellent strikers off the back of their best scoring seasons to date. They profile differently, but well, and fit the age bracket the club has been scouting based off of the rumours so far.

In terms of being ‘elite’, neither of them are there. Nor is Alexander Isak. Analysing which one of the three is most likely to reach that level, however, leaves us with the Swede. Already exceptional, he will only get better. He already is.

As per AS in Spain, following up from English reports that Arsenal have been tracking his progress, the Gunners have informed the player’s agent that they will be open to meeting his £60m release clause, bypassing the need for negotiations so long as the 21-year-old gives his go ahead.

Just how believable is this, then?

Continued…