Former Arsenal star, Emmanuel Petit, has wasted no time in suggesting that the Gunners could do worse than avail themselves of the services of a current Newcastle star.
After putting together a strong squad of players, it’s likely that Eddie Howe will be none too enamoured by the French World Cup winner’s words, however, any deal is far from being done at this stage, if at all.
Since Howe took the reins at St. James’ Park, every signing appears to have been carefully selected to slot in seamlessly to what the club already have in situ.
By and large he and his recruitment team have hit the jackpot each time, and with the possible exception of contract talks dragging on for Bruno Guimaraes, there’s nothing to suggest that any of the squad are overly unhappy.
Nevertheless, Petit has talked up the candidacy of Alexander Isak and how his style of play would be manna from heaven for Mike Arteta at Arsenal.
“Alexander Isak is tall, aggressive and has great technique. He wants to score every time he gets the ball but he needs to be more precise in his game,” he said to BettingSites (h/t football.london).
“Physically and technically, he has a huge presence on the pitch. If one day someone can tell me that he plays like Thierry Henry, maybe I will believe them, but for the moment it’s really too soon to say that.
“He’s a good striker and he’s someone that Arsenal would be very happy to have because he brings different qualities. Jesus and Nketiah play in a similar way, they are different in terms of movement, but physically, technically and in their finishing they are not far apart.
“I was upset by Nketiah’s finishing against Crystal Palace, he had two good chances, and Arsenal need to have a striker that can score 30 goals in all competitions throughout the season, it’s something missing at Arsenal if they want to improve.
“Isak is a very good striker and finished very well in the second half of the season last year after being injured. He started well this year again. If he can avoid being injured, because it’s been a problem since he arrived, we will see his real qualities.”
Whilst some would bristle at the comparison with Thierry Henry, there are elements to Isak’s game which are similar.
No doubt that was much of the reason why Howe went after the Swedish hit man in the first place, and he’s been repaid handsomely ever since the club forked out £63m (per Sky Sports) for his services.
Think Petit has lost touch a bit with the values of Arsenal… if they want to make a statement to the world not just the premier league then they have to sign Mbappe end of!!! Why do we have to shop in the sales. Need to put the club back where it belongs and we need the owners to wake up and spend big, every season to stay on top!!
Arsenal left a cheaper and more productive option in James Maddison to spend a huge sum on Kai Havertz who so far has nothing to show. Maybe it will come but for now he’s not convincing.
That may actually be because of too much pressure to do well.
Why not start him from the bench to give him time to adapt. Arteta’s judgement is simply wrong and his decsion is putting Arsenal behind.
Trossard and ESR can be far more productive as they have proven it in the past but Arteta prefers a Chelsea flop!!!!!