Isak is an interesting project and has a high ceiling imo. But yeah, as people already said, anything near 70M is a ridiculous sum.
Im a fan, but for that sum you want a more acomplished played, someone with more visible product (someone like Vlahovic).
Very nervous about buying an attacker from Lille again.
Itās alright, itās gonna be an Edu and Arteta signing so heāll get plenty of game time. 
Thing is, how desperate are we?
Auba fucked up and I can accept that it happens if itās a one-off. but our most expensive attacker in Pepe isnāt scoring either, or playing for that matter. And Laca, I defend him a lot but itās about who in the current squad should play that roleā¦ if he isnāt scoring at all either like he hasnāt in a while now, it isnāt enough that he is providing some utility, it wonāt work out in the long run either, because what is left is just the ākidsā now, and theyāre not scoring either.
No one is scoring. Now weāre going at least 40 days without a goal lol
Maybe we are desperate enough.
I mean our season hinges on this January window in my eyes. But I donāt want us to spend Ā£70m on Isak, like him or not I donāt think heās a sure fire bet to lift us into the top 4 and for that kind of money youād want your striker firing on all cylinders.
Admittedly I havenāt watched Isak that much but from what Iāve seen its not totally obvious to me that he is a lead-the-line CF. He is listed there on the team sheet but he seems to play in the left channel a lot of the time, basically the same areas where Martinelli wants to be.
He obviously has huge talent so if you could buy him for 40m or something then I can see the argument for doing so and just seeing how it works. But spending 75m on a relatively raw player who might not even be a traditional CF when you really need a CF who can get in the box and score goals seems pretty crazy. The only players who have been purchased for more than that by English clubs are Grealish, Lukaku, Pogba, and Maguire. Its a huge fee.
Couldnāt have picked a worse part of the season to be fucked for goals. We want to qualify for the champions leagueā¦ I fear this month has fucked that right up.
Our hearts get broken too much. We have to protect ourselves sometimes.
Absolutely. Even if you were to forget the 75 million they want for him, heās not the out and out goal scorer that we need. Heās a great prospect and could develop into an excellent player but heās not there yet. And who knows how heāll cope with the premier league. In fact, I have those doubts about Vlahovic too, but at least heās a goal scorer.
For me, Isak would be a great signing if we have lined up another goal scoring striker as well, and thatās without factoring in the asking price for him.
What do you see as better in the summer if weāre not getting Vlahovic or Isak now? DCL? Heās on my shortlist but he isnāt exactly clinical yet either. If we wait until summer more clubs will be in the buying market also, some with guaranteed CL football while we might not get Top 4.
Iām not desperate, but Vlahovic, Isak, and DCL would be my shortlist to go aggressively after to get one of them in this window. Especially because we may well start next season without Laca and Auba so at minimum these next few months would count as settling in.
Upon some reflection, Iām coming around a little bit to the idea of triggering the release clause IF Isak is now our #1 target and our scouting team really believes in him.
It would be a significant overpay. But if Isak is being sold at his ātrueā valuation this summer around Ā£50-60m, I canāt be very confident that weād be the club to get him. With Vlahovic off the market and Osimhen seemingly unlikely to be sold by Napoli, Isak could be the second most appealing striker after Haaland. Pep might like the looks of him. Barca might find the money. I could see Klopp liking him too.
It would be a massive gamble, the signing that essentially defined the future of the club for the next couple seasons. But if the alternative might be losing him and then spending Ā£60m on DCL or Ā£40m on Ollie Watkins, Iād be willing to roll the dice as long as our scouting apparatus really believed in him.
Maybe we get them down to Ā£30-35 and chase someone in that top tier as well.
Weāre going to need at least two strikers, maybe even more if you include a wide forward/striker flex guy assuming Pepe leaves.
Watkins can also play on the wing canāt be?
Him and Isak might be the best we can hope for in the summer
Have you guys seen how Villa are spending the past years? Theyāll rinse us for Watkins. Theyāll ask whatever Everton ask for DCL.
They spent Ā£30m on him, doubt theyāll negotiate anything under Ā£50m.
I rate Mitrovic higher than Watkins
Why is that?
Mitrovic has only really done it in the Championship and looks quite poor when heās come to the PL, Watkins transionted better at the least.
Scoring buckets in the Championship means very little, if they come up heāll score around 10 league goals get relegated and be back to playing where he belongs.
I think Mitrovic is a purer goal scorer who does better in the air and holding up the ball, I think Watkins has better link up play but Mitrovic is far more aggressive in the final third and just a nasty person to deal with in the box. Been ages since we had a real cunt leading the line
I like Watkins but if weāre looking at someone who can do work off the ball at CF there are better mid level options out there imo
True his last PL spell wasnāt great but that Fulham was truly lacking in quality and he was dealing with injuries
Fair enough, I donāt want either as I donāt believe they can score at the requistie clip to have us competing as weād like.
If thatās the case, and the release clause is there, just do it.
Leave GK and CM for the summer. You have a chance to get your guy ahead of schedule and youāre missing a forward. Do it.