Claims Newcastle United should be braced for another battle with Liverpool over £35m star
Liverpool are reportedly keeping tabs on a star player Newcastle United signed for £35m just three years ago.
Alexander Isak’s move to Liverpool was the saga that dominated the summer transfer window and now, Newcastle United may be bracing themselves for another battle with the Reds.
The defending Premier League champions battled all summer before finally landing the signing of Isak, who had registered totals of 21 and 23 goals in his final two Premier League campaigns at St. James’ Park. Of course, his sale helped fund a major overhaul of Newcastle’s squad, with the likes of Nick Woltemade, Yoane Wissa, Anthony Elanga and Malick Thiaw coming on board.
Liverpool keeping tabs on Sven Botman
Eddie Howe and the powers that be at Newcastle will have been glad to see the back of Liverpool, who not only signed Isak, but also stole Hugo Ekitike from under the noses of the Magpies. But now, Newcastle may be preparing to go head-to-head once again with Liverpool over one of their star players. According to Mark Brus of the Daily Briefing, Sven Botman remains ‘on Liverpool’s list’ following summer interest that never amounted to an official offer.
“I’ve just received information which I trust to be rock solid on Liverpool’s seven main centre-back targets,” Brus wrote.
After naming Marc Guehi, Castello Lukeba, Ronald Araujo, Jarrad Branthwaite, Dayot Upamecano and Murillo as the other six targets, he added: “Finally, there was a recent report about Sven Botman being someone Liverpool looked at (but didn’t move for) in the summer, and my understanding is that he’s still on their list. ‘Doing business with Newcastle again won’t be straightforward, though’, my source clarified.”
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What has Eddie Howe said about Sven Botman?
After suffering terribly with injuries, Botman is enjoying a superb start to the 2025/26 campaign. The Netherlands international - who joined the Magpies from Lille for £35million in 2022 - has started six games at the heart of the Newcastle defence across all competitions, including four in the Premier League.
Five of those starts came in the space of 15 days just before the international break, with Botman playing the full 90 minutes against Bournemouth, Arsenal, Union SG and Nottingham Forest, as well as 89 minutes in the EFL Cup against Bradford City. Botman has posted a team-high in the Premier League for shots blocked (5) this season, while he’s second for clearances (27).
Howe was recently asked how much of a boost it was to have Botman back to full fitness, giving a glowing appraisal of the Dutchman.
“I think it’s a very good question, and probably one that isn’t highlighted enough because when we lost him [to injury], I was really down about that,” Howe said. “Because we’d lost an outstanding player, character, person, but distributor of the ball — short and long range.
“He brought the other side of the pitch into play a lot when we were under pressure, and we lost that from our game. That was a huge blow. “Not only that, he’s a man-mountain. He’s a physical beast, which in this league you need. “I thought we coped really well with his absence. I thought Dan Burn in particular was absolutely magnificent. But Sven’s got qualities that Dan doesn’t have and vice versa. They’re both very different players.
“It’s great to see them now on the same team, still contributing in the way that they are. Sven can hopefully from this moment still improve and get back to his very, very highest levels, because there are not many I’d look to swap him with if he’s at his best.”
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