Transfers, 2024-25 season

[Gemmill 49557]

 

 

 

[ewerk 32982]

Quote

There is a new type of target man running amok. 

 

As top-level football becomes increasingly focused on attacking moves in transition, the attributes needed to play as a lone striker have gone through a rewrite. If Didier Drogba in his Chelsea prime a decade ago was one of many who harkened the dominance of 4-2-3-1 and the end of front men who only worked in the opposition penalty area, then the likes of Erling Haaland are part of a new breed who press, create and score. 

 

The strikers of the next decade are likely to be physically imposing athletes capable of moments of explosive speed and strength to break through high-line defences. They will need to be able to play with their back to goal, but also to press from the front and to hassle defenders in the wide areas. These players are likely to possess a smattering of skill-based moves to beat at least one defender from a standing start and a handful of shooting techniques so they can finish off chances with both placed and power finishes.

 

It is a big ask, and that is why any player who looks capable of meeting such a lengthy job spec is mentioned alongside eyebrow-elevating transfer fees. These are footballing unicorns — players who shouldn’t really exist but are out there if you go on into the early hours scouting talent from unknown lands (or just watch La Liga and Ligue 1 highlights, like we do).

 

Alexander Isak, a 21-year-old, 6ft 3in tall striker for Spain’s Real Sociedad and Sweden, looks to be one of the next generation of this ilk.

 

Isak is a streaky player in that when he’s hot, he’s really hot. Across the end of 2019 and the start of 2020, for example, he scored a late equaliser against Barcelona (in a 2-2 draw on December 14) to spark a run of 12 goals in as many games, including two at the Bernabeu to help knock out Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.

 

Born in Stockholm to parents from Eritrea in north-east Africa, Isak’s goalscoring prowess has seen him compared to Zlatan Ibrahimovic (another “fluid” kind of target man). While there are some similarities between the two Swedes, there are plenty of differences as far as the younger striker is concerned,

Isak doesn’t quite have Ibrahimovic’s limitless self-belief and ability to bend footballing events to own will yet, but he does have seemingly extendable legs and an ability to score from some unbelievable positions.

First emerging at Stockholm club AIK in the 2016 season with 10 goals in 23 appearances, he was signed at age 17 by the Thomas Tuchel-coached Borussia Dortmund, who beat off an array of suitors including Real Madrid in January 2017. Isak then spent the better part of two years flitting between Dortmund’s senior and B teams and Dutch side Willem II on loan.

His combination of explosive speed and inventive finishes meant Isak’s talent was never in question — during his spell in the Netherlands for the second half of the 2018-19 season, he became the first foreign player there to score 12 goals in his first 12 games — but, like many prodigious talents, it became a question of which club would be the best environment for him to properly bloom. 

 

The answer turned out to be Real Sociedad, after technical director Roberto Olabe convinced the young Swede to join in the summer of 2019.

 

Isak’s two seasons in the Basque city of San Sebastian have seen him first display his talents as counter-attacking forward, running on to balls in behind defences from Martin Odegaard in 2019-20, and then as a competent passer, forming build-up triangles with David Silva and other team-mates last term.

 

This past season saw Isak become the first player aged 21 or under to get to 17 goals in La Liga since Sergio Aguero did it for Atletico Madrid in 2008-09.

A good demonstration of Isak’s talents can be found in a 3-2 loss away to Sevilla in January, with the forward first pressing defender Diego Carlos into scoring a comedy own goal before ghosting in at the back post from a corner for a one-touch finish to make it 2-2. 

 

Isak’s smarterscout profile also helps break down his most recent season.

 

For those unfamiliar with smarterscout profiles, they break down parts of a player’s game into different performance, skill and style metrics, and then give scores based on how often they perform a given stylistic action or how effective they are compared with others playing in their position, producing an overall score between zero and 99.

 

 

Isak shoots a lot (the high rating for shot volume), contributes highly to his team’s chances of scoring (the high score in xG from shot creation) and generally picks up the ball in central locations in the penalty area (receptions in opposition box).

 

He’s a good ball carrier (the high score for carry and dribble volume) but tends to dribble only over short distances from A to B, rather than more expansive runs and passes into space, as a winger would do. He performs well in effectively pressing the opposition from the front, too (that strong number in defending impact).

 

He doesn’t frequently compete in the air for a player of his height (see his low score for aerial duel quantity).

 

Neither, as the below chart shows, does he rate too highly in terms of success in his aerial duels — being considered below average in his ability to win them both in open play or from set pieces.

 

 

This is a common side-effect for footballers who have their growth spurts early, as their back muscles aren’t as well developed as in smaller players; this is something Isak will have to develop if he wishes to be more like Ibrahimovic.

 

What your eyes might tell you watching Isak at Euro 2020

 

He scores with a lot of one-touch finishes, similar to Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s recent work for Everton.

He’s a bit skinny, somewhere between Ibrahimovic and Peter Crouch in terms of build for tall strikers, though is likely to bulk up with age if he wishes to develop his hold-up play.

 

How you might explain Isak if you’re in a bar with friends and his name pops up

 

“Imagine Jamie Vardy — but 6ft 2in, and with better dribbling.”

“He’s a nuisance of a target man, like Ollie Watkins — a pest to defenders when pressing, but you can also volley long passes in to him to hold up.”

“Did you ever see Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at Dortmund, when he was lightning-quick and picking off wasteful passes from opposition full-backs?”

“He’s going to get linked with a Champions League club next year and then tear up the competition, along with a bunch of other 6ft-plus, dribbling strikers.”

That last one might get you some strange looks but here’s some further smarterscout data for those wanting a comparison with some forwards already in the Premier League. 

 

“I think this is the natural evolution of the striker position based on tactical trends — most notably pressing and high lines,” says Sam Tighe, a football journalist from the podcast Ranks FC who has covered Isak previously. 

 

“The on-the-shoulder runner who aims to exploit the space in behind is back in vogue but, thanks to sports science, they’re bigger and stronger and better than ever. So you have Isak, Tammy (Abraham), (Dusan) Vlahovic from Fiorentina, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and more. Big and strong, fast and quick, but good footballers too. And they can change from ‘in behind’ to ‘target man’ on demand, depending on the game situation.”

 

The demands placed on target men are changing as football reinvents itself at the top level but Isak looks more than up to the task at hand. 

 

 

Gentlemen, you may want to read the above in your respective sheds.

[Howay 12496]

Hopefully we gazump the dildo salesmen to Paqueta, as well as sign Isak and Pedro. What a window that would be, especially after the good start we’ve had. 

[Craig 6798]

7 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

 

 

 

 

Something else AP doesn't pronounce correctly 

[Sonatine 11899]

7 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

 

 

 

 

The only word I understood of that was Isak 

[Tom 14051]

SUBTITLE UPDATE 

[Craig 6798]

 

[aimaad22 4631]

8 minutes ago, Craig said:

 

 

[wykikitoon 22634]

47 minutes ago, Kid Dynamite said:

 

Certainly wouldn't have used that goal for 'the real deal' where it spoons off the defender  

[zico martin 101]

Awaiting Jimbo's telly obvs

[aimaad22 4631]

So this is what Bruno's tweet yesterday was about? 

[Alex 36595]

Mackems have confirmed he’s shit btw 👍🏻

[wykikitoon 22634]

CN is livid. He thought we only had fifty quid left 

 

 

[David Kelly 1334]

4 minutes ago, wykikitoon said:

Certainly wouldn't have used that goal for 'the real deal' where it spoons off the defender  

That was a superb finish man.  He knew scooping it over the defenders outstreched leg was the only way it goes in.

[wykikitoon 22634]

 

 

😂

[wykikitoon 22634]

 

 

 

[Monkeys Fist 44974]

33 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

 

 

 

Uhwencuh tuh duh Toon… oooooow??? 
 

 

 

Who taught this gimp to speak? 
 

 

[Homelander 6]

16 hours ago, Polarboy said:

Newcastle United To Miss Out On Callum Hudson-Odoi, Winger Bundesliga Bound (insidefutbol.com)

 

Looks as if we'll miss out on Hudson-Odoi if we were ever serious about him. Interestingly he's away to Leverkusen, Diaby's club, of course Diaby mostly plays on the left, so while you wouldn't expect Hudson-Odoi to join a club if he wasn't guaranteed minutes, it doesn't necessarily mean that Diaby is leaving. 

Diaby could be on the move in January depending how Leverkusen performed in the Champions League group stage, as at the moment they are currently bottom of the Bundesliga and went out of the German Cup to a 3rd Division side.

[PaddockLad 18912]

His brother could croon a canny tune back in the day too….  😎

 

 

 

[Sonatine 11899]

[Gemmill 49557]

The West Ham move for Paqueta is good news, I reckon. Puts us to a decision. If we have any interest at all in signing him, we'll find out in the next few days. 

[Gemmill 49557]

That Athletic article gives Isak a 95% similarity rating to Vardy - the current PL striker that he's most like. 

 

I'd be happy with that. I love watching Vardy play when he's on song. He was a fucking nightmare at his best 

[wykikitoon 22634]

Like I said.

WTF does these ITK bastards know eh? FUCK ALL

[ewerk 32982]

3 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

That Athletic article gives Isak a 95% similarity rating to Vardy - the current PL striker that he's most like. 

 

I'd be happy with that. I love watching Vardy play when he's on song. He was a fucking nightmare at his best 

92% like Wilson too iirc. So should fit into our current setup.

[Dr Gloom 23457]

Plus it sounds like he he can play with his back to goal and come short as well as running in behind. A modern day Drogba. Potentially. I like how he can play in the wide areas too. Some of those hits coming in from the left wing were ridiculous