Alexander Isak has informed Newcastle of his desire to explore a transfer this summer, following ongoing interest from Liverpool in a club-record deal.
Isak has now formally communicated his intention to leave Newcastle, having not travelled with the squad for their pre-season tour of Singapore and South Korea.
“The club’s hierarchy are aware of Isak’s wish to consider his options this summer,” writes the Mail‘s north east football correspondent Craig Hope.
The Swedish striker “wants to explore a move away” and “does not want to commit” to the new contract Newcastle intended to offer him.
Newcastle‘s public stance remains that they “do not want to sell and the preference would be to negotiate fresh terms, even if that meant a move next summer.”
However Hope adds: “But an offer from Liverpool or any club in the region of £150 million, coupled with Isak’s own wishes, could yet see a move accelerate in the coming weeks.”
Newcastle could sell for £150m
This follows a report from the Telegraph‘s Mike McGrath last week that claimed the club’s owners were “sticking rigidly to their £150 million valuation.”
In other words, while Newcastle insist their No. 14 is not for sale, they would be open to doing business for the right fee.
Writing on X, Sky Sports’ north east reporter Keith Downie explained that Isak’s omission from the tour “wasn’t initially planned.”
That comes with Isak having missed Newcastle‘s 4-0 friendly loss to Celtic on Saturday and having trained alone throughout the week – despite results of a scan on his thigh returning clear.
As with Federico Chiesa not joining the champions for their own tour of the Far East, this was widely suspected to be a cover story amid interest in a transfer.
With that in the works now, the Reds will be waiting in the wings, seemingly prepared to agree a new club-record transfer to sign him.
Liverpool have already broken the British transfer record once this summer, bringing Florian Wirtz in from Bayer Leverkusen for £116 million, but could do so again as part of a shakeup of their attack.
Along with the tragic passing of Diogo Jota, Liverpool could still sanction the sales of Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, Ben Doak and Chiesa, leaving only Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah and youngster Rio Ngumoha as their current options along with Hugo Ekitike.
Isak scored 27 goals in 42 games for Newcastle last season, with his 23 in the Premier League behind only Salah (29) in the Golden Boot race.
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