Alexander Isak is a Liverpool transfer target (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak has reportedly rejected the offer of a new contract at St James’ Park as Liverpool are ready to make an offer for him.
The Sweden international has rocked Newcastle today by neglecting to travel with the rest of the squad for their pre-season trip to Singapore.
According to the Times, there’s now even more to this story, as it seems Isak has already turned down a big pay rise from Newcastle, while Liverpool are ready with a £130m package to try to complete a transfer.
This follows Fabrizio Romano also claiming Liverpool were still interested in Isak even though they’ve just signed another striker in the form of Hugo Ekitike…
It’s clear Isak won’t come cheap, but it will be interesting to see if £130m is enough to persuade Newcastle to let the 25-year-old go, given that he has made it clear he wants to leave.
Alexander Isak to Liverpool transfer could give Arne Slot a headache up front
As much as LFC fans will understandably be excited by the potential signing of Isak, it is slightly hard to work out how he’d fit in Arne Slot’s side.
Liverpool probably aren’t going to shift to playing two up front any time soon, so it could mean Ekitike shifting out wide, which he can do, though it’s not his best position.
Romano notes that Luis Diaz’s future could be linked to the Isak deal, so perhaps it will be that Ekitike ends up replacing the Colombia international as a wide-forward, with Isak surely being brought in to play centrally.
Bad news for Newcastle as Isak wants to leave
This is clearly terrible news for Newcastle, who will surely have hoped to hold on to keep this squad together after winning the Carabao Cup and qualifying for the Champions League.
The Magpies will find it very hard to replace someone as important as Isak, even if they do land a significant fee for him.
All in all, this is sure to be a big blow to Eddie Howe in his bid to keep on moving this Newcastle team forwards.
