‘The ultimate mould to build a perfect striker’ – how good is Newcastle’s Alexander Isak?

The goals are flowing again for Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak, but could the Magpies soon face a fight to keep him at St James’ Park?

The 25-year-old Sweden forward scored for the fourth time in four games to help his side fight back to beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 on Sunday, and his all-round display impressed former Arsenal forward Theo Walcott, who was watching for BBC MOTD2.

“When you talk about the mould for the ultimate build of a perfect striker, Isak has got all of those elements,” Walcott told BBC Sport.

“I am not saying he is perfect yet, but he has got all the attributes he needs to become perfect.

“Whether that will happen at Newcastle, I don’t know. But they need to tie him down pretty quickly otherwise they are going to lose him.

“Isak is the sort of player Arsenal genuinely need, but you would say everyone needs a player like him in their team right now, even Liverpool, and it is not just Premier League teams who will be trying to get hold of him either.

“Look at Real Madrid’s line-up at this moment in time. They go for these Galacticos and buy these incredible talents, but they sometimes put them in positions where they can’t quite do it.

“I would say that if you put Isak in that Real team then he moulds them together in a different way, where you might think they now look like a very well-balanced team.

“That’s the level he’s at, and I can absolutely understand why all the very top teams would want him.

“As well as his all-round forward play, he scores goals as well – all kinds of different goals. As I said on MOTD2, his finish against Forest when the ball dropped for him in the box was pure class, after the brilliant header he put away against Arsenal last week.

“There is more to come from him as well. Newcastle are a good team, but put him in a better team and he would get better too.”