A Sky Sports reporter made a huge claim about Newcastle striker Alexander Isak and it’s left Liverpool fans annoyed.
Isak, 25, is one of the most in-form strikers in Europe having registered 24 goals and five assists in 34 appearances for Newcastle this term – with arguably the most important of these coming in the Magpies’ 2-1 Carabao Cup final victory against Liverpool last month.
Keeping hold of the Sweden international will, no doubt, be one of Eddie Howe’s main priorities come this summer with Liverpool and Arsenal the favourites to sign the 25-year-old.
According to football finance expert Kieran Maguire, both clubs are in strong financial positions – due to it being likely being they compete in next season’s Champions League – which could help them meet Newcastle’s reported £150m valuation.
“If you sign a player even for £150million, you spread that across five years it is costing you £30m plus the wages, let’s say the wages, even at the top end are 15, you are talking £45m for one player, that is your entry fee to the Champions League,” Maguire told The Overlap.
However, Sky Sports reporter, Lyall Thomas, dropped a huge bombshell about Isak when discussing the Swede’s future.
“Whether Liverpool are willing to part with that amount of money [£100-150m] for a new striker remains to be seen and they will face competition from other clubs if a potential deal is in the offing,” Thomas wrote.
“But Liverpool’s recruitment team wanted to sign Isak when Jurgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders pushed instead for Nunez in 2022.”
Alexander Isak has been linked with several top clubs (Credit:Getty)
There’s, no doubt, that on reflection signing Nunez instead of Isak was a mistake by the 19-time Premier League champions.
Nunez signed for Liverpool from Benfica for a reported club-record fee of £85m in June 2022 but has failed to reach the heights expected of him at Anfield.
In the same summer, Newcastle signed Isak for a club-record £63m, with the Swede already more than proving his worth on Tyneside. Isak has three years left on his Newcastle contract.
Liverpool fans had their say on social media.
One said: “So it’s was really Jurgen Klopp’s fault. That’s a shock this narrative is being wheeled out. I’m sure it will be Klopp’s fault that some of Liverpool’s best players leave on free transfers this summer. Always forgetting the team likely winning the PL is Klopp’s team.”
Another added: “Tbf Nunez was looking like the real deal back when he played for Benfica.”
While a third commented: “Signing Nunez was a disgrace but I don’t like how all these hit pieces on Klopp are coming out.”
Alexander Isak on summer move
Isak has already made his feelings clear with regards to a new contract at the Magpies when speaking to Swedish outlet FotballSkanalen in March.
Isak said: “There is a lot of writing outside but within the club no one is talking about anything like that. ‘I don’t know much, to be honest. From within the club and from our side there are absolutely no discussions. It’s just full focus on playing for me.”
He added: “I’m not thinking about the future. I just want to perform for Newcastle. Now we won the cup, but we want to finish strong and reach the Champions League games.
“That’s where my focus lies. There is no reason for me to think about anything else (other than Newcastle). I feel incredibly comfortable at Newcastle. The only focus I have is on playing.”
