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Paul Merson claims ‘special’ striker cannot join Tottenham or Man United but could sign for Arsenal

Srinivas Sadhanand

Thu 6 February 2025 13:15, UK

As Arsenal lost 2-0 to Newcastle United in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final, questions will be asked about why they did not sign a striker.

Arsenal are no longer a work-in-progress and being one of the best teams in Europe, it is high-time they address the holes in their squad as once again this season, their chances of winning silverware seem unlikely.

Liverpool have a six-point lead over Mikel Arteta’s side and with the form they are in, it would take a brave man to write Arne Slot’s side off in the title race.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LiverpoolLiverpool	23	17	5	1	56	21	35	56
2	ArsenalArsenal	24	14	8	2	49	22	27	50

Alexander Isak reminded the Gunners of what they are missing on Wednesday night as he put them to the sword with another textbook centre-forward display against them.

Mikel Arteta adores Isak, who is Arsenal’s “top target” but unfortunately for the Spaniard, he lacks a number nine on his books who possesses the Swede’s completeness.

Paul Merson says Alexander Isak is destined to sign for Arsenal

Paul Merson believes that Isak is destined to sign for Arsenal if he were to leave Newcastle.

As Merson sang Isak’s praises, he also discounted Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Manchester City and Aston Villa from signing the former Real Sociedad goalscorer.

On Sky Sports News, the pundit said: “But the lad’s a special player. On the way in, I was thinking, where’s he going to go? Where can he go? He’s not going Man City, he’s not going to go Man United, I don’t think Man United have the money to buy anybody anyway, he’s not going to go Tottenham, I don’t think he’s going to go Villa.”

“He can only go to Arsenal in the whole world really, unless it’s Real Madrid and they already got [Kylian] Mbappe anyway. So, for me, it’s only Arsenal he can go and then it’ll be up to him, whether he wants to go and play for Arsenal, I might win something or stay at Newcastle and might win something.”

Paul Merson urged Arsenal to sign Isak in January as well but in fairness, a move mid-season would have been nigh-on impossible as he is far to valuable to Newcastle’s hopes of having a successful campaign.

Sources told TBR Football in January that even Barcelona are monitoring Isak as they consider him as the perfect heir for the 37-year-old Robert Lewandowski — which emphasises the level of competition Arsenal will likely face if they try to sign him.

Arsenal could have signed Alexander Isak in 2022

Arsenal could have signed Isak in 2022, a reality that could frustrate Mikel Arteta.

At the time, the 25-year-old was still at Real Sociedad and was not the superstar he has evolved into since heading to the Premier League.

But Arsenal felt the £75 million release clause in Isak’s contract was not representative of his true value three years ago.

The Gunners decided to let Newcastle have a free run at signing Isak, who they paid £63 million () to bring to St. James’ Park.

A statistical comparison between the ex-Borussia Dortmund number nine and Kai Havertz shows why Arsenal made a grave error by not pulling the trigger to sign the former in 2022.

Isak has more goals as well as assists than Havertz in the league this season and in the summer, Arsenal should do everything in their power to make Paul Merson’s prediction come true as the Newcastle talisman is well and truly the real deal.