Liverpool value Newcastle United star at £120m - Jurgen Klopp blocked move for half the price
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Liverpool have made an approach to Newcastle United over the possibility of signing Alexander Isak this summer.
The Reds have not submitted a formal bid for Isak, but have made contact with Newcastle United over a possible move. Liverpool reportedly value Isak at £120m, well below what the Magpies would even entertain for the striker this summer.
The news of Liverpool’s approach for Isak comes amid renewed interest from the north east in signing Hugo Ekitike. The Frenchman has long been a target for the Magpies and has been the subject of a club-record bid of £70m from Newcastle United - one that Eintracht Frankfurt have rejected.
Isak and Ekitike’s futures seem linked at this stage with Liverpool also reportedly interested in signing the Frenchman - although it is Newcastle who have made the first concrete move. Newcastle are also very reluctant to sell Isak this summer and will require a fee far greater than £120m to even get them to the negotiation table.
Liverpool have already rejected chance to sign Alexander Isak
Interest from Anfield in Isak this summer stems from the potential departure of Darwin Nunez. The Uruguayan has not become a regular during his time at Liverpool and was not regularly part of Arne Slot’s starting sides last season.
Nunez has spent three seasons at Anfield following a £64m move from Benfica in 2022. That same summer, Newcastle, who had also been linked with a move for Nunez, spent £63m to sign Isak from Real Sociedad.
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Isak made his Magpies debut at Anfield, netting a stunning goal to give his side the lead on Merseyside before being cruelly denied a second by the tightest of VAR offside calls. Isak has taken his game to completely new levels since his move to Tyneside and whilst Liverpool are interested in a move for him this summer, they will be regretting their decision not to pursue his signature three years ago.
According to former Liverpool director of research Ian Graham, the Reds had scouted Isak and were weighing up a move for him, but Jurgen Klopp, who had increased power over transfers at that point in time, instead instructed the club to move for Nunez instead of the Swedish international.
“Jurgen created a lot of success for the club, so it’s understandable why it moved in that direction,” Graham told the Financial Times. “In 2022, he signed Darwin Nunez instead of Alexander Isak.
“Both players, if you look at top young centre-forwards in Europe, they would be number one and two (at the time), or two and three but [Erling] Haaland was going to [Manchester] City and out of our price range. Jurgen preferred Nunez.”
He continued: “It would be very churlish of me to say, ‘It’s terrible that Jurgen had his choice’, when in the past Jurgen had been persuaded by me and my colleagues of a different choice. And it was still the case that we signed good players - in Nunez’s case, one of the best young strikers in Europe.”