18 minutes ago, petre ispirescu said:

Basically the closest thing to Isak in world football and we all know that guy is not going anywhere now that Newcastle clinched a Champions League spot.

If The Athletic reports on it then things must have gathered pace behind closed doors for the past days.

Judging by the rumoured amount, it means Chelsea will spend big this summer and can match anyone for Gyokeres, too, but my guess is most of the available strikers have already chosen their destinations, hence we made a move for Ekitike.

The market pool for quality strikers is really limited, probably as limited as it has ever been and can't really fault the board for not getting Gyokeres. The guy is the most sought after player in European football that is available for a transfer and has the luxury to choose the destination he desires and negociate from a power position.

Gyokeres, Sesko, Ekitike and Osimhen. That's basically the four really, really good strikers available this summer. Gyokeres and Sesko have probably agreed to go to Arsenal and Liverpool, Osimhen for some incredibly shady reasons seems to be avoided by every big club and Ekitike looks set to sign for us.

Others like Delap, he is a battering ram but IMHO not good enough for a big club, Mateta could be a good shout, although this might have been his prime season and you never know what's going to happen with him as he was never projected to be someone with a high ceiling anyway. And the rest like Haaland, Isak, Lautaro, Julian Alvarez are not for sale. And that's basically it. The pool for really good strikers is probably at an all time low in world football.

Think the main issue is the club doesn’t want to pay the big wages any decent CF will demand. Gyokeres is on relatively low wages at Sporting but will be demanding more than £150k/w wages because it’s his last big contract. Osimhen is rightfully not in our budget range, Sesko is already on £90k/w so also way out of our range. Delap and Ekitike are the only two that will fit in the range. The fee is ridiculous though, and he has only had one decent season which isn’t even remarkable. You deduct for the Bundesliga tax and I reckon he will struggle to get 10 league goals, if he starts.

Why not just pay the £150m for Isak or £90m + Jackson, and guarantee a 20 league goal forward than taking lazy punts in the market

1 hour ago, abramovich said:

Looks like a french version of Crouch to me.

Is it really the best we could do?

Haha that’s the other way to look at it 😂

45 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Think the main issue is the club doesn’t want to pay the big wages any decent CF will demand. Gyokeres is on relatively low wages at Sporting but will be demanding more than £150k/w wages because it’s his last big contract. Osimhen is rightfully not in our budget range, Sesko is already on £90k/w so also way out of our range. Delap and Ekitike are the only two that will fit in the range. The fee is ridiculous though, and he has only had one decent season which isn’t even remarkable. You deduct for the Bundesliga tax and I reckon he will struggle to get 10 league goals, if he starts.

Why not just pay the £150m for Isak or £90m + Jackson, and guarantee a 20 league goal forward than taking lazy punts in the market

The other guy potentially in our age, wages and price bracket is the big Dutch lad at Strasbourg - Emegha ...

25 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Think the main issue is the club doesn’t want to pay the big wages any decent CF will demand. Gyokeres is on relatively low wages at Sporting but will be demanding more than £150k/w wages because it’s his last big contract. Osimhen is rightfully not in our budget range, Sesko is already on £90k/w so also way out of our range. Delap and Ekitike are the only two that will fit in the range. The fee is ridiculous though, and he has only had one decent season which isn’t even remarkable. You deduct for the Bundesliga tax and I reckon he will struggle to get 10 league goals, if he starts.

Why not just pay the £150m for Isak or £90m + Jackson, and guarantee a 20 league goal forward than taking lazy punts in the market

If Gyokeres and Sesko do not fit the wage structure, be sure that Isak does not either.

But Isak was also a 60M gamble in 2022 when Newcastle transfered him. Bags of potential, but not really a goalscoring machine. 9 goals in his first season at Sociedad in almost 40 matches, that's an average at best season, then 17 in his second season, a very good one and then only 6 goals in his third season, very poor. Thats 32 goals in over 100 matches, not really something spectacular for a striker. And Newcastle actually paid 60M on the back of a season in which he only scored 6 goals in the Spanish league.

I mean Isak was a prospect at the time Newcastle got him, people thought he'd turn into a very good player at some point and were waiting for a solid run for him, but it just was not happening and although he was doing the right things, we was putting Benteke/Origi kind of numbers, rather than solid ones. That's why when Newcastle bought him they got no competition whatsoever, he'd have stayed one more season in Spain had Newcastle not gambled on him when no one else seemed to trust his ability yet and go big in the market for him.

Pretty interesting analysis thread here:

7 minutes ago, NestorGarde said:

Pretty interesting analysis thread here:

So basically he’s a weak version of Nico Jackson.

Very insightful analysis. Horrendous for us. Please not blow this amount of money on this guy. If we are paying out that sort of fee then let's get Gyokeres, or Sesko. This league is about strength and physicality.

7 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

So basically he’s a weak version of Nico Jackson.

Except Jackson is nobody's favourite player....apart from maybe @nonotnowjim

Pay for Gyokeres or Osimhen. Don't fool around with this guy

Interesting player.. he could be a force linking up with palmer with neat feet and clever interplay. He’s still young but seems to have a higher footballing iq than Jackson. The main dangers for me is seeing his frame and thinking he’s a target player and ruining that and if he’s that much the pressure might dwarf him, I still believe that if mudryk was half the price he’d have been so much better. It’s a risk but it could be one worth taking.

28 minutes ago, carefree franco said:

Interesting player.. he could be a force linking up with palmer with neat feet and clever interplay. He’s still young but seems to have a higher footballing iq than Jackson. The main dangers for me is seeing his frame and thinking he’s a target player and ruining that and if he’s that much the pressure might dwarf him, I still believe that if mudryk was half the price he’d have been so much better. It’s a risk but it could be one worth taking.

Agreed about Mudryk. Although footbaling IQ is definitely not one of Misha's strenghs

At the quoted price this shouldn’t even be a consideration, that Gyokeres money. Not some 1 season Bundesliga wonder.

At 35-40M he’d be worth a punt at double that it’s absurd.

4 hours ago, petre ispirescu said:

If Gyokeres and Sesko do not fit the wage structure, be sure that Isak does not either.

But Isak was also a 60M gamble in 2022 when Newcastle transfered him. Bags of potential, but not really a goalscoring machine. 9 goals in his first season at Sociedad in almost 40 matches, that's an average at best season, then 17 in his second season, a very good one and then only 6 goals in his third season, very poor. Thats 32 goals in over 100 matches, not really something spectacular for a striker. And Newcastle actually paid 60M on the back of a season in which he only scored 6 goals in the Spanish league.

I mean Isak was a prospect at the time Newcastle got him, people thought he'd turn into a very good player at some point and were waiting for a solid run for him, but it just was not happening and although he was doing the right things, we was putting Benteke/Origi kind of numbers, rather than solid ones. That's why when Newcastle bought him they got no competition whatsoever, he'd have stayed one more season in Spain had Newcastle not gambled on him when no one else seemed to trust his ability yet and go big in the market for him.

Isak had already played 5-6 full seasons before turning up at Newcastle, he was a wonder kid at 16-17yrs. Everyone assumed he was Arsenal bound that summer, but Arsenal bailed at the £60m fee and felt he wasn’t ready for a top team them. I feel Ekitike is presently at his “first season in Sociedad” in the Isak curve presently. Needs another season at Frankfurt, or move to a Newcastle type team for 2 seasons before making a jump to a top team.

He isn’t ready to start regularly for a top team yet, and that £83m fee is ridiculous. Someone with more money than sense will pay the fee, PSG paid £77m for Kolo Muani from the same club and loaned him out to Juve after 1 season because he wasn’t ready yet. You just hope our lot aren’t that stupid.

13 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Very insightful analysis. Horrendous for us. Please not blow this amount of money on this guy. If we are paying out that sort of fee then let's get Gyokeres, or Sesko. This league is about strength and physicality.

Turning your nose up at Ekitike then saying the money should be spent on Sesko is honestly hilarious

9 hours ago, ducavis said:

PSG paid £77m for Kolo Muani from the same club and loaned him out to Juve after 1 season because he wasn’t ready yet. You just hope our lot aren’t that stupid.

Kolo Muani, Jovic, Andre Silva, Haller.

Frankfurt have had their share of big hitters that have flopped afterwards. Have to agree with you.

But they are due one and Ekitike has more to his game than goals, he is basically like a tall and very technically gifted winger playing as a striker. As I said, the pool for really good strikers is incredibly limited and apart from Gyokeres there is no one available that really stands out from the others. He would be my #1 option as well as I think he fits all kinds of play, can be good on the counter, perfect against a low block, but unfortunately I do not believe our board is willing to give him the big wages he is after.

16 hours ago, ducavis said:

Think the main issue is the club doesn’t want to pay the big wages any decent CF will demand. Gyokeres is on relatively low wages at Sporting but will be demanding more than £150k/w wages because it’s his last big contract. Osimhen is rightfully not in our budget range, Sesko is already on £90k/w so also way out of our range. Delap and Ekitike are the only two that will fit in the range. The fee is ridiculous though, and he has only had one decent season which isn’t even remarkable. You deduct for the Bundesliga tax and I reckon he will struggle to get 10 league goals, if he starts.

Why not just pay the £150m for Isak or £90m + Jackson, and guarantee a 20 league goal forward than taking lazy punts in the market

Isak is perfectly happy at Newastle. I promise you, now they have CL footy, a trophy in their cabinet and more money to fund transfers, he will be moving nowhere. Isak definitely will not force a move as well. Newcastle won't sell any key players. They will be adding and looking to kick on.

49 minutes ago, petre ispirescu said:

Kolo Muani, Jovic, Andre Silva, Haller.

Frankfurt have had their share of big hitters that have flopped afterwards. Have to agree with you.

But they are due one and Ekitike has more to his game than goals, he is basically like a tall and very technically gifted winger playing as a striker. As I said, the pool for really good strikers is incredibly limited and apart from Gyokeres there is no one available that really stands out from the others. He would be my #1 option as well as I think he fits all kinds of play, can be good on the counter, perfect against a low block, but unfortunately I do not believe our board is willing to give him the big wages he is after.

I get your point but we could also look at Marmoush though who went to City from Frankfurt in January and looks a really good player still.

2 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Turning your nose up at Ekitike then saying the money should be spent on Sesko is honestly hilarious

At least Sesko has got a bit of strength about him. He's 10 Kg heavier. Ideally i would want Gyokeres, but i cannot see the point in spending a shed load of money on a player that does not have the physical attributes to compete in this league.

11 hours ago, The Boehly Babes said:

At the quoted price this shouldn’t even be a consideration, that Gyokeres money. Not some 1 season Bundesliga wonder.

At 35-40M he’d be worth a punt at double that it’s absurd.

As ever with all these rumours the fees bring written will be massively embellished.

if we can sell Jackson for 40/50m and get Ekitite for 70m, then it doesn’t look too bad.

Jackson have been hilariously bad 2nd half of season so I really can’t see Ekitite being any worse.

Of course I would prefer Gyokeres and at the moment it looks like Arsenal are the only competition for his signature, why aren’t we all over it?

These SD's seem obsessed with young, 1 season wonders. It's a good thing they weren't in charge in the 2000s or we'd have Ricketts and Beattie up front.

2 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

if we can sell Jackson for 40/50m and get Ekitite for 70m, then it doesn’t look too bad.

Jackson have been hilariously bad 2nd half of season so I really can’t see Ekitite being any worse.

Of course I would prefer Gyokeres and at the moment it looks like Arsenal are the only competition for his signature, why aren’t we all over it?

Delap and Ekitite wouldn't honestly be too bad, particularly if we get the latter for around £60m. Not sure if we really want to offload Jackson though.

I think Arsenal want Sesko given the way Arteta likes to play football.

I've watched Etitike quite a lot from way back when he was loaned to Danish side Vejle BK. Not exactly anything out of the ordinary back then.

He didn't succeed in PSG. Took some time to really break through in Frankfurt. Great season he's had now though - but as many other are adressing; so did Jovic, Kolo Muani, Haller and many others. Even Lindstrøm, who's fallen through in both Everton and Napoli since.

There absolutely no way we should be forking out €100m for this guy. Is he interesting? Yes.

Is he a €100m player? No. I'd even argue that a straight swap for Jackson would be idiotic. I can easily see Jackson bagging 20 goals a season at Frankfurt.

4 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

At least Sesko has got a bit of strength about him. He's 10 Kg heavier. Ideally i would want Gyokeres, but i cannot see the point in spending a shed load of money on a player that does not have the physical attributes to compete in this league.

Andy Carroll has got a bit of strength too