Alexander Isak has been left sweating on his dream move to Liverpool after they lowballed Newcastle with an opening offer and then claimed they were walking away, with sources believing they have ‘strung along’ the striker.
The Premier League champions have had a formal bid of £110million rejected by Newcastle, going in with a figure £10m less than what they had offered informally last month.
Liverpool have subsequently said that the nature of the rebuttal means they will not be returning with a second offer, even though they would have known the approach was going to be rejected.
However, sources suspect the Reds have ‘bottled it’ and have strung along Isak, who reported a thigh injury to get out of Newcastle’s Far East tour and has since left Tyneside to train at former club Real Sociedad.
There is some sympathy for the Swede inside Newcastle, with a feeling he has been badly advised and left high and dry by Liverpool, whose priority was always Hugo Ekitike, who they signed from Eintracht Frankfurt for £79m last month.
Sources believe Liverpool’s interest was genuine, but only at a price way below the valuation of £150m.
If so, the £110m offer was made to ‘save face’ and placate Isak and his camp, who are going all out to force the move.
There is bafflement and some anger at Liverpool’s conduct.
Should this be a tactic, and they do return to the table, Newcastle will only sell on their terms, and that means a fair financial package plus replacements lined up.
We understand that, if given encouragement, Newcastle would likely to make a move for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins. Talks also remain ongoing over a deal for Brentford’s Yoane Wissa.
But until they make progress on incomings and Liverpool return with a vastly improved offer, Isak has been told he is going nowhere.
As it stands, Newcastle see no reason why Isak should not train with his team-mates when they return to the North-East next week.
