Borussia Dortmund have reportedly beaten firm favourites Real Madrid and Chelsea in the race to sign Alexander Isak, dubbed the new Zlatan Ibrahimovic, from AIK.
ESPN have revealed that, as per their source, Real Madrid have lost the transfer battle to sign Swedish sensation Alexander Isak. The AIK prodigy has been followed by Real Madrid and Chelsea. Los Blancos were reported to have almost sealed a deal for Isak only for Thomas Tuchel’s side to swoop in late and hijack the move.
Perhaps, the fact that the reported fee involved in Dortmund’s agreement is less than what Real Madrid had offered, will surely frustrate Florentino Perez and the Madrid hierarchy. Still, Isak’s reported move to Dortmund will be a new Swedish record, with the Bundesliga heavyweights set to shelve out 90 million Swedish Krona for the 17-year-old.
Isak has been dubbed the new Zlatan Ibrahimovic, owing to the similarly towering nature of both the forwards and in part, the playing style of the prodigy. And it is fitting that Isak’s transfer will break the Swedish record by beating Ibrahimovic’s long-standing record move to Ajax for 82 million Swedish Krona.
Isak has been sensational for the Swedish Allsvenskan outfit with 13 goals and 1 assist in 29 senior appearances for AIK in all competitions. Also, Isak, at the nascent age of 17, has already made his senior debut for Sweden, scoring his first senior international goal as well – ominous signs of another prodigious Swede.
Alexander Isak (17 Years ??) New Player of Borussia Dortmund. ??? pic.twitter.com/46mGcMs2SU
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVBSudtribune) January 22, 2017
Chelsea have been looking for reinforcements to the frontline with the situation surrounding Diego Costa and Michy Batshuayi. Isak presented the perfect player with the prospect of the Swede being able to provide at least a decade of top quality football up-front.
Real Madrid have been looking to add a long-term striker to their ranks and had overtaken Chelsea, who were once in pole position to land Isak. Los Blancos were reported to have even sealed an agreement for Isak’s transfer, who looked destined to don the legendary white jersey.
But Dortmund came in late for the player and snatched him from under Real Madrid’s nose. The report iterates that the player is currently in Germany to sign a long-term contract that will run till 2022 with the Yellow Brigade set to announce the player’s arrival in the coming days.
The move has now been made official by Borussia Dortmund themselves, which means that Isak will become the first Swede to feature for Dortmund in the Bundesliga.
Hjärtligt välkommen, Alexander Isak! ✌️#welcomeisak #bvb Alle Infos: https://t.co/ZadYC8FTSX pic.twitter.com/GObv1G803Z
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) January 23, 2017
The Dortmund move does make sense, in a way, for Isak. The Bundesliga club is known to give youngsters an extensive look-in into the senior squad and the footballing world has seen the result of such a system. Even now, Dortmund boast of supreme young talents like Ousmane Dembele, Christian Pulisic, Julian Weigl and Felix Passlack.
Isak is sure to get much first-team action at the Signal Iduna Park, something which is tough to imagine being the case at the Santiago Bernabeu or Stamford Bridge. It will be interesting to see if there are any further late twists in this saga and the eyes of the footballing world will be glued on how Isak develops and takes to a much tougher league in Germany.
