Three of England’s biggest clubs are circling the same 6ft 5in Croatian striker — and none of them has made a bid yet. Igor Matanovic has six goals in his first seven games for Freiburg, his valuation has rocketed from £30m to £50m in three months, and Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea are all, in the BBC’s words, “checking on” him. This is the tactical truth about who actually needs him most.
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The story so far: three clubs, zero bids
Let us be precise about what this story is — and what it is not. According to CaughtOffside’s report this weekend, as carried by BBC Sport’s Sunday gossip column, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea are “on a growing list of clubs checking on” Freiburg’s Croatian striker Igor Matanovic. United have discussed the 23-year-old internally; Arsenal and Chelsea have had representatives regularly watching him in Germany this season. There are, crucially, no formal offers on the table. This is a scouting race, not a transfer battle — yet.
That distinction matters, because the numbers doing the rounds are designed to create urgency. Matanovic could reportedly have been signed for around £30m in the summer. After six goals in his opening seven appearances across all competitions this season, Freiburg’s asking price is now understood to be closer to £50m — a benchmark set, per the same reporting, by their £50m sale of Johan Manzambi to Aston Villa in the summer. Freiburg, to be clear, are under no pressure to sell: the striker only arrived in the summer of 2025 for roughly €6.7m and is contracted until 2029.
So why is every elite recruitment department in England suddenly watching the same Bundesliga striker? Because 6ft 5in forwards who move like wingers, press like midfielders and score like this do not stay secret for long. He is, as Sports Mole’s coverage of the CaughtOffside report notes, open to a move to England if a suitable offer arrives. January is suddenly very interesting.
Who is Igor Matanovic?
Matanovic is a 23-year-old Croatian international striker who joined SC Freiburg from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer of 2025. Standing around 1.96m (6ft 5in), he combines a genuinely imposing physical presence with technical qualities that have caught the attention of Premier League scouts — the classic profile every top-flight recruitment team keeps a live file on: the frame of a target man with the feet of a modern forward.
His development curve is the eye-catching part. Last season’s 15 goals announced him as one of the Bundesliga’s most interesting attacking talents; this season’s start — six goals and two assists in seven games — has turned interest into genuine momentum. He is a full Croatia international, and featured off the bench in Saturday’s heavy defeat to England — a reminder that his reputation is built on Freiburg form, not international cameos.
The tactical profile is what makes this a story worth taking seriously. Matanovic attacks the six-yard box with real intent, holds the ball up against big centre-backs, and — unusually for a striker of his size — contributes to combination play rather than just ending it. That last quality is doing a lot of heavy lifting: all three interested clubs play possession football, and all three have a slightly different problem he might solve.
The numbers behind the explosion
The headline figures are stark. Six goals in 492 minutes is a goal every 82 minutes — elite output, albeit in a seven-game sample that demands the usual caveats. Last season’s 15 goals across a full campaign is the more reliable signal: this is not a one-month wonder, it is a young striker on a steepening curve. Context matters too: Freiburg are not a dominant side manufacturing chances for fun, so goals produced in a mid-table Bundesliga team tend to translate better to the Premier League than goals scored in a super-club’s chance machine. The two assists this season hint at a forward who links play rather than a pure penalty-box finisher.
The honest counterpoint: seven games should not transform a £30m valuation into a £50m one. If Matanovic sustains this form Freiburg will have every right to demand the higher figure — but the buying clubs will want to see the autumn before committing. The race is at the scouting stage precisely because nobody wants to be the club that paid £50m for a purple patch.
How he fits Arsenal’s 4-3-3
Arsenal’s interest is the most tactically intriguing of the three. Questions persist over the suitability of Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz to lead the line — a point raised explicitly in GiveMeSport’s coverage of Arsenal’s interest — and Arteta’s five biggest selection decisions ahead of the Leeds game underline how unsettled the striker position remains, with Gyokeres set for his first Premier League start amid Havertz’s injury absence.
In Arteta’s 4-3-3, Matanovic offers something the current options do not: a genuine aerial and physical reference point who can still play the combinations. Arsenal’s chance creation is heavily weighted toward wide areas — Saka and the left-sided rotation deliver enormous cross volume — and a 6ft 5in striker who attacks the near post and the penalty spot changes the geometry of those attacks. He would give Arsenal a “plan B” that does not require changing the plan: the same possession structure, the same wide overloads, but with a finisher who converts crosses at a rate Gyokeres has not yet shown in England.
The fit is obvious; the pathway is not. Gyokeres was signed to be the answer, and Havertz remains Arteta’s trusted big-game forward when fit. Matanovic would arrive as a challenger, not a starter — a £50m challenger. That is a lot of money for a squad role, even for a club of Arsenal’s resources. But as our breakdown of Arsenal’s Haaland interest showed, the club’s recruitment thinking at striker has been ambitious and unresolved for over a year. Matanovic is the cheaper, younger, lower-wattage version of the same idea — and arguably a better tactical fit for what Arteta’s wide creators actually produce.
How he fits Carrick’s Man Utd 4-2-3-1
Manchester United’s case is the most straightforward: Benjamin Sesko needs competition, and he needs protection from over-reliance. The internal discussions at Old Trafford, per the CaughtOffside reporting, suggest the recruitment team agrees. In Michael Carrick’s 4-2-3-1 — the shape around which Saturday’s ‘El Sackico’ with Tottenham will be fought — the lone striker is asked to do an enormous amount of unglamorous work: pinning centre-backs, holding up long balls, and pressing from the front in a side that has been anything but secure.
Matanovic’s profile maps neatly onto that job description. His hold-up play and physicality would give United’s midfield a reliable out-ball, something they have lacked in phases this season, and his pressing work for a striker of his size is respectable.
The complication is the same one that has haunted United’s recruitment for a decade: they do not need another promising young striker, they need certainty. But as pure tactical fit — a big, mobile, hard-working No.9 for a 4-2-3-1 that asks its striker to do everything — there are few better matches on the market.
How he fits Alonso’s Chelsea 3-4-2-1
Chelsea’s interest is the most characteristic: they monitor every elite young forward on the planet, and Matanovic — 23, improving, resale value, physical outlier — is exactly their type of asset. Xabi Alonso’s 3-4-2-1, the shape dissected in our predicted XI for the Bournemouth game, asks its central striker to operate in congested central zones with two No.10s buzzing around him — essentially Matanovic’s scouting report.
The squad logic is murkier. Chelsea already have Joao Pedro and Danny Welbeck as attacking options, and the club’s forward line is the least settled part of an unsettled squad. Matanovic would be a project signing in a squad full of them — another young forward to develop while the team tries to win now. The tactical fit is genuine: his combination play suits the two No.10s behind him, and his aerial threat would give Chelsea’s wing-backs a genuine target. But of the three clubs, Chelsea’s need is the least urgent and their pathway the most crowded.
The £50m question
Strip away the hype and the valuation is the story. £30m in the summer; £50m now. That is a £20m premium for seven games of football — or, more generously, the market correctly repricing a 23-year-old whose underlying trajectory was already obvious. Freiburg’s position is instructive: they sold Manzambi to Aston Villa for £50m in the summer and see no reason to value their current star striker any lower. With a contract to 2029 and no release clause mentioned in any reporting, they hold every card.
For the buying clubs, the calculation is about timing. Buy in January at £50m and you pay the premium but secure the player before a bidding war. Wait until the summer and the price could be £35m — or £70m, if he finishes the season with 25 goals and the whole of Europe joins the queue. The scouting-stage status of the race tells you where clubs’ heads are: watch the autumn, decide in December.
The risk case is real and should be stated plainly. Matanovic has one full season of top-level production. His international audition — 45 difficult minutes against England — was forgettable. The Bundesliga-to-Premier-League transition has swallowed better-regarded strikers. The counter is equally plain: 6ft 5in, 23, scores, assists, presses, holds it up, open to England, available in January. Those players do not stay £30m for long.
Verdict: who should pull the trigger?
On pure tactical fit, Arsenal edge it — Matanovic is the aerial, physical complement to Arteta’s cross-heavy 4-3-3 that neither Gyokeres nor Havertz quite provides. On need, Manchester United edge it — Sesko cannot carry the line alone, and Carrick’s 4-2-3-1 is crying out for a robust, all-action No.9. On probability, Chelsea are the club that signs everyone, but also the club that needs him least.
This race stays in the scouting phase until December, and the club which moves first in January will be the one whose striker situation deteriorates fastest between now and then. Watch Gyokeres’s first months as a starter. Watch Sesko’s workload. The answers will decide who pays the £50m — because at this rate, somebody will.
