Theo Walcott suggests huge Liverpool signing to Arne Slot but Arsenal 'needs' him most

If you could sign a top player from another Premier League club to play for Liverpool, who would you pick? If he were looking for a striker, Theo Walcott would opt for Alexander Isak of Newcastle United.

The former Arsenal, Southampton and Everton player is now a pundit. Walcott spoke to BBC Sport on Sunday about the Swedish forward after watching him score in a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest. He said that Liverpool 'need' Isak, though also that the Gunners have the greater requirement for a player of his talents at present.

Walcott was certainly effusive with his praise of the 25-year-old. "When you talk about the mould for the ultimate build of a perfect striker, Isak has got all of those elements," he said. "I am not saying he is perfect yet, but he has got all the attributes he needs to become perfect.

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"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,” Walcott added, before bringing the Reds’ forthcoming Champions League opponent Real Madrid into the mix.

"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.”

High praise, indeed. Walcott wasn’t done, though, as he also compared Isak to a Premier League great who would be in the debate to be Arsenal’s best ever player.

“As a player he is something pretty unique in the Premier League right now, and for me he is the closest thing we have seen to another Thierry Henry,” Walcott said, later adding: “I would say he is this generation’s Henry, but with extra attributes in the air. That's who I would compare him to from my era, anyway.”

If Walcott believes Isak is approaching Henry-levels, then he’s right to say every team would benefit from his presence in their side. Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler has recommend his old club sign Isak in the past too. Newcastle will presumably prefer it if pundits stop recommending Isak to their old teams