Former Everton boss Sean Dyche has now weighed in on the saga. He argued that the Gunners may have got themselves a bargain in today’s market, with Gyokeres having scored 97 times in 102 games in Portugal these past two seasons.
“£120m is a lot of money for a centre-forward and it takes a big club, which Newcastle are, to turn that kind of money down,” he told talkSPORT. “And £120 million… I mean I was looking at Gyokeres, I think he is a very, very good player at 65 to £70m.
“This sounds mad, but in modern football, that could be a steal all of a sudden. We don’t know yet, players are on paper, and we are still only in pre-season. But if he gets off and running, you could suddenly have a steal at £65million.”
Dyche, 54, also laughed at the way the transfer market has evolved in the last decade, adding: “I mean, 10 years ago could you imagine us sitting here about £65m as a steal?”
If Liverpool were to get their prime target for £120m, it would signify a new British transfer record. Newcastle’s desired £150m figure would make Isak the third most expensive player in history.
Dyche also argued Newcastle needed to handle the situation carefully. He said: “It’s alright saying these clubs should be keeping the player, but it’s not easy. If the player is going to down tools, even mentally, what happens to their value? It goes down.”