Arsenal could make a ‘sudden switch’ from interest in Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyokeres to Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak, according to reports.
The Gunners have been locked in talks with Sporting over a potential deal for Gyokeres for weeks with a fee agreed last week – but tough negotiations over the add-ons is threatening to ruin a deal.
A report in Portugal on Monday has even suggested that Sporting CP have now ‘turned to’ Manchester United as the Red Devils have ‘reached’ a fee of €80m for the striker.
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano did bring Arsenal fans some good news on Sunday evening that Sporting had ‘made progress in negotiations’ to sign Almeria striker Luis Suarez.
Romano said on his YouTube channel: “For Arsenal fans, there is an important news — it’s not directly about the Gyokeres story, but can be linked with the Gyokeres story.
“Because tonight, Sporting made progress in negotiations with Almeria to sign the Colombian striker, Luis Javier Suarez.
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“So if Sporting is closing this deal for Suarez, it probably means that things are advancing and accelerating for Gyokeres. My information on Gyokeres remains that the two clubs are in contact, that the agents are working on it.
“But let me say that first of all, Gyokeres is showing full commitment, he’s not being tempted by Saudi, not being tempted by intermediaries offering Manchester United, but fully focused on Arsenal with his agent, Hasan Cetinkaya, on the same page.
“But also, it’s important to say that Sporting are close to completing the deal for Luis Javier Suarez as new striker, expected to be done this week. So keep an eye on that one because it could be an important signal in this story.”
Arsenal and Liverpool have been heavily linked with a potential move for Newcastle striker Isak this summer but the Magpies were determined in their stance that he isn’t for sale.
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Isak was left out of Newcastle’s friendly 4-0 loss to Celtic over the weekend. On that, Eddie Howe said: “It was my decision [to leave out Isak]. I decided to send him home due to all the speculation around him.
“The last thing he wanted was to be sat in the stands watching. That wasn’t fair to him. But I am confident he will be a Newcastle United player come the end of this window.”
And now The Independent is speculating that with Arsenal’s pursuit of Gyokeres hitting a road bump that they could reignite their interest in Isak.
The newspaper claims that many at Newcastle ‘are worried’ that the Sweden international could leave and a ‘feeling is growing that Isak’s head has been turned’.
A ‘sudden switch’ by Arsenal ‘makes sense’ but the Gunners ‘don’t currently have the budget to go for Isak’ as they have proven by ‘haggling over differences of £5m in add-ons for Gyokeres’.
The Independent adds: ‘The greater intrigue is that Arsenal do have the PSR headroom. Many just put this down to the ownership’s willingness to spend, and how much funds are released. The Kroenkes do prefer their club to be fully responsible, with no risk in this regard. Other sources would describe that as overt conservatism, and even frugality, when the club has a huge chance to do something historic. Their wage bill has – up until recently – been around £60m less than even Liverpool’s, let alone City.
‘That is known to have led to some frustration. Arteta has also strongly and successfully argued to push the budget out this summer, which is why some well-placed sources think it highly unlikely they will go out any more.’
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Former Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew reckons Isak’s head has been turned and that Magpies boss Howe has a “battle” on his hands.
Pardew told talkSPORT: “Reading between the lines, it looks very much like the player’s affected.
“Eddie made a sensible move and just took it out of the equation…whether he was affected or not, we can speculate about that. What I do know is, is that it was a wise move to take him out of the equation.”
Pardew continued: “When players want to move and they make it fundamentally clear with their actions. It can cause a problem.
“Has Isak’s head been turned? I would say possibly, yes.
“So they’ve now got a battle on there. I think that Eddie’s trying to play it down, but it won’t go away until Liverpool conduct their business.”
