Alexander Isak is finally on his way out of Newcastle towards the bright lights of Merseyside. Newcastle agreed to let the star striker go for a record fee, which Liverpool were only too happy to cough up. The deal marks the end of a tumultuous month in Newcastle, and fans of both clubs can now breathe a sigh of relief as the deal has been completed. Isak arrived at Liverpool’s training ground on Monday morning to complete a physical. With Liverpool’s next 2 games away from home, it might be a few weeks before he is unveiled to the faithful fans at their home stadium.
The deal between Newcastle and Liverpool is a record in the EPL
Reports are that Liverpool paid a British club record fee of £125 million to Newcastle to secure the services of Alexander Isak. That eclipses the previous record that Chelsea paid for Moises Caicedo in 2023, which was a bargain £110 million. Newcastle’s manager can breathe a little bit easier now as the Isak saga has been consuming the news coming out of the North of England.
The news comes on the back of reports that two of Newcastle’s directors paid a visit to Isak’s home. Reports at the time suggested that they were there to try to lure him back to the team with a new salary, but most likely, what happened was they tried to end things amicably before informing Isak he would be sold to Liverpool and asked him to keep quiet about it while they negotiated a fee.
Newcastle fans will be happy to see an end to the Alexander Isak saga
For Newcastle fans, it seemed like the drama around Alexander Isak leaving the club just would not die. Isak did not travel with the team for Newcastle’s preseason games and trained separately from the team. Following Liverpool’s initial bid being shut down by Newcastle, Isak stated, in a very public manner, that he would never play for Newcastle again, as they broke promises that were made regarding his leaving the club.
Newcastle’s manager stated that the situation was a “lose-lose” for both the club and Isak. He damaged his reputation, and Newcastle lost one of the best strikers in the world at the moment. Newcastle recently signed German striker Nick Woltemade from Stuttgart, most likely to replace the goals that Isak delivered to the club on a regular basis. In fact, one might go so far as to suspect that is what held the deal up; Newcastle first needed to find another striker.
“If Liverpool can get Marc Guehi and Isak through the door, they’re two starting players. Isak’s one of the top centre-forwards in the world. He’s a real player. He is the one player that I’ve seen give William Saliba, Gabriel and Virgil van Dijk a real hard time over this last couple of seasons. He’s really caused them problems. He’s a different-level player. For Liverpool to be on nine points, with the two games they’ve just had against Newcastle and Arsenal, with those two could be entering the building off the back of the international break, they’ll be absolutely buzzing and confident as hell.” – Sky Sports’ Gary Neville
How will Alexander Isak affect Liverpool’s title ambitions this year
Liverpool have started their new English Premier League campaign well, they have won all their games and sit with a positive goal difference. With the transfer deadline day coming to an end, the Premier League was awash with clubs wheeling and dealing to try to get their last transfers over the line before the deadline hits. The saga reached a fever pitch when Liverpool faced Newcastle in the EPL. Isak was nowhere in sight as Liverpool snatched the win in the dying embers of the game.
