The Alexander Isak transfer saga has gone public. The Newcastle United striker, one of the world’s best at his position, moved to the north of England in 2022, and since his arrival in the Premier League, he’s scored 54 goals and helped Newcastle complete its Saudi-funded transformation from relegation threat to regular contender for the Champions League places. But Isak wants out, and he wants out now.
On Tuesday, after about a month of speculation and rumors and transfer denials, Isak took to his personal Instagram and released a statement of the kind that even top players with all of the leverage in the world rarely make:
There’s no ambiguity here: Isak considers his time at Newcastle over, and it’s just a matter of the club doing what’s in everyone’s best interest by selling him. Of special interest is the reference to “promises” made, implying that he and the club had some kind of agreement that he could leave this summer that, according to him, has not been honored.
In response, Newcastle released its own statement on the club website: “We are clear in response that Alex remains under contract and that no commitment has ever been made by a club official that Alex can leave Newcastle United this summer.” The statement goes on to say that the “conditions for a sale this summer have not transpired” and that the club does “not foresee those conditions being met.” It would appear that club and player are at a public impasse now, and a polite reunion that sees Isak suit for the Magpies this season seems further away than it did even two days ago.
How did Isak get here? It’s complicated in the way that all big money transfers are complicated, and it involves Liverpool, as so many transfers this summer already have. The Reds, fresh off winning the Premier League, came into the summer with a plan to replenish its squad, a plan that was tragically heightened by the death of Diogo Jota. Already this summer, Liverpool has spent around €340 million in bringing in Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, and Giovanni Leoni. For a club that has, in recent years, mostly kept its powder dry on big moves, this has been anomalous summer in Merseyside, and even if the club makes no more moves, it would have to be considered a strong window for the defending champions. There’s always room for more, though, and that’s where the Isak links begin.
Despite the Ekitike signing—the 23-year-old former Eintracht Frankfurt striker had a stellar debut against Bournemouth last Friday—Liverpool apparently wants to further upgrade the striker position with Isak. On the one hand, it feels like this could be overkill. Adding Isak could potentially force Ekitike either out of the starting lineup or out of his natural position and onto the left wing. (It might also force manager Arne Slot to deploy a two-striker formation, which would be very fun but also new ground for both manager and club in recent years.) On the other hand, it’s Alexander Isak. If a club can get a player of that caliber, it makes sense to sign him first and ask questions about fit later.
Isak passes every sort of test on the field. He’s 6-foot-4 and utilizes that height well in the air. He’s fast, and he uses both feet well, both to shoot and to progress play. He’s not a bystander in possession, which would go well with Liverpool’s system where the front three attackers are all expected to contribute. While he is not the hardest worker in defense, Liverpool is no longer the gegenpress machine it was under Jürgen Klopp. Under Slot, there’s more control in the chaos, and Isak wouldn’t be asked to sprint and press for 90 minutes.
With all that in mind, the rumors really kicked up in earnest for an Isak-to-Liverpool move on July 15, with the Reds “registering” their interest in the striker. Isak then missed Newcastle’s friendly on July 19, with manager Eddie Howe explicitly stating that the absence was due to the potential transfer. The player was then excluded again, this time from an Asian preseason tour squad. The first bid for Isak came on Aug. 1, with Liverpool reportedly offering around €127 million. That’s a big chunk of change, but Newcastle isn’t really starving for cash, so it can afford to stand pat and make either Liverpool or Isak blink while sticking to its €175 million asking price. So far, Newcastle has held fast, and Isak did not suit up for the club’s opening day match against Aston Villa on Aug. 16. Surely all three parties would have preferred some form of resolution before the season started, though the impending closing of the transfer window means that there will be about 10 more days of speculation and negotiation before something has to give.
Whatever the end result is here will be awkward for someone involved. Right now, the least chaotic scenario is that Liverpool pulls its interest and rides with Ekitike as its main No. 9. That would leave Isak with a choice that’s not much of a choice: He could try to force his way out anyway, handing in a transfer request and relinquishing signing and loyalty bonuses in hopes of a new suitor appearing (ironically enough, his best bet there might be a club in the Saudi league) and succeeding where Liverpool failed, or he could return to Newcastle and play out the season while biding his time for a move next year.
Of course, this could all very well prove to be little more than the narrative push this saga needed in order to reach a predictable conclusion. Liverpool has shown that it will pay for talent this summer, and if that means ponying up enough cash to sway Newcastle to sell, so be it. The one concern might be the timing. What good is an injection of cash to Newcastle if it can’t spend it to try to replace Isak? The Magpies already did try to do this ahead of a potential Isak move, but it fell through. The club was reportedly interested in former RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko, but the Slovenian chose Manchester United instead. There are rumblings that Newcastle might go after Paris Saint-Germain forward Gonçalo Ramos, so there are still options, but everything feels at a standstill until the Isak situation is resolved. (Newcastle was also close to signing Ekitike earlier in the summer before Liverpool pipped them. Not sure if there’s any residual resentment here for the Magpies, but it can’t have helped.)
Maybe this is what Isak was banking on with his statement. By going so public, hinting at the rumors that he had an agreement with Newcastle to leave this summer, and laying down what is essentially an ultimatum, Isak is engaging in a tried-and-true method of leverage. Sell me, or watch me sit out until the next transfer window. It’s not that simple, of course; for a player who is only 25, at the start of what should be his prime, sitting out at least half a season, ahead of a World Cup no less, seems untenable. Isak would surely still make Sweden’s World Cup squad should his country to qualify, but he would lose game shape in the meantime. If he instead sought to reconcile with Newcastle if only to maintain his form and fitness, there’s still a risk that the frayed relationship between club, player, and manager could lead to all three underperforming. That result would have a mutually destructive effect. Newcastle would surely receive a smaller fee for a less productive player when it comes time to sell, and Isak wouldn’t be able to command as high of wages from his new club.
There is a third option, thanks to a new FIFA rule tweak that went into play in October. ESPN’s Gabriele Marcotti broke down how the changes to Article 17 of FIFA’s Regulations on Transfer and Status of Players could affect the Isak saga, which boils down to the fact that Isak has a bit more leverage now than he would have had a year ago. Thanks to the changes, Isak could, within 15 days of the end of the 2025-26 season, break his contract, forcing a “unilateral breach” that would release him from his current deal, which ends in 2028. He would then be free to find a new club, and after some court proceedings that Marcotti says could take up to two years, that new club would owe some compensation to Newcastle in the €60 million range. (This scenario is much more likely if Isak’s new club is not in the Premier League; the league could try to block this action if the move is between two of its member clubs, but it would be a lot more difficult to do so if Isak heads back to the continent.) It’s unlikely that Isak would prefer this route, but it is another knot in this tangled situation that he could choose to deploy if Newcastle refuse to sell him before then.
It’s a mess, in short, one that does not appear to have a solution everyone can live with, save for Liverpool and Newcastle coming to an agreement on a fee. (There is a strain of Liverpool fan loudly stating that they no longer want Isak because of the “poor character” he’s displayed in trying to find a new job, but that’s horseshit. Those same fans will sing Isak’s name from the Kop if he were to sign.) Anything short of that outcome will leave someone disgruntled, and when it comes to a player like Isak, that’s an outcome no one likely wants. The clock is now ticking, with just under two weeks left for something to happen. Thanks to Isak’s public statement, that clock has turned into a bomb countdown, and all that’s left to see is who will be left in the blast if it goes off.
