"That’s what they need" - Ally McCoist urges 'desperate' Arsenal to make January move for ex-Chelsea attacker following Gabriel Jesus blow
Ally McCoist has advised Arsenal to sign former Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham after Gabriel Jesus' injury. The pundit insists that the Gunners are desperate for a centre-forward in the January transfer window.
Jesus was stretchered off in Arsenal's FA Cup defeat to Manchester United on Sunday (January 12). The club later confirmed that the Brazilian suffered an ACL tear and he is set to undergo surgery.
This is a huge blow for the Gunners, who've already had to play without Bukayo Saka. The English international is out until March due to a hamstring injury.
Arsenal have been linked with many strikers, including Victor Osimhen, Viktor Gyokeres, and Alexander Isak. However, McCoist believes they should consider signing Abraham this month, who's on loan at AC Milan from Roma.
The pundit said (via Metro):
"Seemingly it’s taken an injury to Gabriel Jesus to push them over the line in going to get a centre-forward. Which is something that should have happened a long time ago."
"Who do they get?" he added. "The thing is now, the selling club know that they’re desperate. Absolutely desperate. £20m becomes £30m, £40m becomes £50m and they’ve only got themselves to blame for that situation.
"One that’s going under the radar a little bit…Tammy Abraham. They just need somebody that can effectively stand in the six-yard box and score goals. That’s what they need."
Abraham spent two years at Stamford Bridge before departing for Jose Mourinho's AS Roma in 2021. The Chelsea academy graduate earned his senior promotion under Frank Lampard but fell down the pecking order during Thomas Tuchel's reign.
Alan Shearer claims only Chelsea can afford to buy Premier League striker amid Arsenal's interest
Alan Shearer insists that Chelsea are the only club with the resources to buy Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak amid interest from Arsenal.
Recent reports suggest that Newcastle have set Isak's price tag at a whopping £150 million, with the Swedish forward's contract expiring only in 2028.
And Shearer believes Chelsea are the only team in the Premier League who could shell out that sum without breaking the Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). He said (via Team Talk):
“Other than possibly Chelsea, I genuinely don’t think that anybody could afford to buy Alexander Isak; because of the way that the rules are structured with PSR, I don’t think that anybody could afford him."
“I’ll never say PSR rules are a good thing – even without them in place, I’m not sure if anybody would be able to go to the price that Newcastle would ask for to sell him," he continued. "I’d guess that they wouldn’t even entertain it. If you’ve paid £63m for someone and he’s smashing the league up like he is right now, what would the price be?
"I’ve looked at £150m being talked about, but I don’t think that they would even entertain that, why would they? The problem then would be getting somebody in who could do as good of a job."
Alexander Isak has been in excellent form for Newcastle this season, scoring 15 goals and providing four assists in 22 games so far.
