Arsenal have the budget to sign £100m CF who’s more exciting than Gyokeres

Arsenal’s centre-forward problems can be traced back a number of years. Not since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was in his free-scoring pomp have the Gunners had a top-class central marksman.

Sure, Kai Havertz is a technically sharp and dynamic player, but he’s not an out-and-out striker, and Gabriel Jesus has never quite reached the pinnacle, for one reason or another.

This issue, Mikel Arteta’s most pressing concern, was illustrated across the 2024/25 campaign, with the lack of a prolific focal point proving fatal in the Premier League title race for a third successive season.

Viktor Gyokeres is expected to solve that problem and pose an insoluble question back to the club’s title rivals.

Arsenal’s centre-forward plans

An official announcement is not yet upon us, but Arsenal have all but sealed the signing of Sporting Lisbon’s Gyokeres, who is expected to join the Emirates clan in a package worth £64m.

However, fans and indeed the powers that be in north London will no doubt have been rocked by the revelations over on Tyneside, with Alexander Isak informing Newcastle United that he would like to explore his options in the transfer market this summer.

Liverpool are the frontrunners, but BBC Sport have confirmed that Arsenal’s long-standing interest remains intact, and that the Gunners are one of the few outfits who are reported to have the budget to pull off a statement signing such as the Swede.

Newcastle aren’t going to roll over and allow their all-important number nine to leave without earning their due, and have priced him at £130m, which would eclipse the British-record fee Liverpool paid for Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz.

Isak vs Gyokeres

Whether Arsenal manage to pull off deals for both Isak and Gyokeres remains to be seen, but there’s little question that it’s the man over at St. James’ Park who 99% of a Gunners persuasion would prefer.

Isak, indeed, joined Newcastle from Real Sociedad in a £63m deal three years ago (the same ballpark as Arsenal have just paid for Gyokeres), and he has gone on to post 62 goals and 11 assists across just 109 outings for Eddie Howe’s burgeoning team.

Gyokeres, 27, has the statistical analysis on his side, from a goalscoring standpoint, at least. Indeed, the Sweden star scored 97 goals and supplied 28 assists across just 102 Sporting appearances over two years.

It’s certainly nothing to be sniffed at, but Isak is a “world-class” goalscorer himself, as has been said by pundit Alan Shearer, and he’s doing it week in, week out in the Premier League, surely a higher level of competition than the Liga Portugal.

Analyst Raj Chohan has even claimed that the Newcastle talisman is “the best striker in the world”, with his completeness and athleticism capable of rivalling even that of Gyokeres, who is his countryman and a physical machine.

The difference is that Isak is tried and tested, having led Newcastle to an extraordinary Carabao Cup triumph last year, beating off Arsenal in a double-legged semi-final before dispatching Liverpool at Wembley. He took centre stage at both events.

It’s a climactic point of the window for a number of Premier League teams, it feels like. Should Arsenal truly have the financial means to strike a deal for the £120k-per-week Isak, should they not pounce on it?