Who is Alexander Isak?
Alexander Isak is a striker for La Liga club Real Sociedad and signed for them on a 5 year deal having previously played for Borussia Dortmund and AIK at both senior and youth levels.
He started his career in the AIK youth team in his home country, Sweden. During his debut season in the Allsvenskan league he scored 10 goals in 24 appearances as he averaged a goal every 160minutes while only being 16/17.
His obvious goal scoring ability mixed with his age drew the attraction of numerous ‘big’ clubs across Europe including Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund with the latter winning the race for his signature. Although the transfer fee wasn’t announced it is believed the transfer was valued at around €9 million, if this fee is correct it would make it the most a club has ever paid for a player from the Swedish top flight.
Alexander Isak initially started playing for the reserve team, who play their football in the Regionalliga (the 4th tier of German football), but did earn himself 13 appearances for the first team over 2 seasons in the Bundesliga, Champions League, Europa League and DFB-Pokal. He spent the second half of the 18/19 season on loan with Willem II in the Eredivisie where he bagged 14 goals in 18 games.
His impressive record in the Eredivise and the few glimmers of his talent during his time at Dortmund was enough for Real Sociedad to sign him for a fee in the region of €7 million. In his first season in Spain he scored 16 goals and managed 3 assists in a season where they won their first Copa Del Rey for over 20 years. This was largely down to the 9 goal involvements Isak registered throughout the competition including 2 goals and an assist in the Quarter-Finals where they knocked out Real Madrid.
He had an equally impressive second season scoring 17 goals in 34 games while also managing 2 assists during this campaign. Despite not scoring in the first 6 games Isak had a great run in the new year where he scored in 6 consecutive games and was involved in 10 (9 goals & 1 assist), including a hat-trick against Alavés.
This season (20/21) Isak helped Real Sociedad finish 5th in La Liga which is the highest league finish since the 2012/13 season. They also reached the last 32 in the Europa League, losing 4-0 to Manchester United. Despite the lack of silverware for his club Isak picked up the La Liga young player of the year award.
His natural goalscoring ability is clear and while he is very good with his hold up play he is surprisingly very nimble with his feet and enjoys taking on his man and beating him for pace. So far in the Euros we have seen glimmers of his ability as Sweden are still looking for a permanent replacement for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Since his initial retirement in 2016 Sweden have started 19 different strikers in an attempt to find his predecessor.
His sensational form this season has caught the eye of a few Premier League clubs including Arsenal, with manager Mikel Arteta apparently keen to add the Swede to his front line attacking options. Despite the interest it will take a good offer to prise him away from the Spanish club. He still has 3 years left on his £988,000 a year contract as he signed a 5 year contract with the club back in 2019. Do you think we will see the name Alexander Isak in the premier league in the coming seasons or is he best suited to another league/club? Tweet us or leave us a message on Instagram to let us know!
