Liverpool are about 36 hours away from facing Newcastle United at St. James’ Park. Monday’s tilt will be an interesting match-up, not only because both clubs will be in the crush of teams looking to make the Champions League places – and, if one were willing to stretch on behalf of Eddie Howe’s charges, among the title contenders – but also because these two clubs are currently involved in perhaps the most gripping transfer saga in the Premier League.
Want-away striker, Alexander Isak, has made his
intentions to leave the Tyneside club quite clear over the course of the transfer season. In fact, Isak, torched any remaining shred of doubt around his posturing by publicly releasing a statement this past week calling for the club to allow him to leave and alleging of broken promises on his end. For Liverpool, it’s mostly been wait-and-see as they have seen two bids rejected by Newcastle. The interest, though, is clearly there.
Which is what makes Monday’s showdown feel like it’s laden with so much more meaning than typical matches between two franchises in the north. While it’s easy to look at Newcastle as one that’s joined the Premier League fandom relatively recently and think of the club as one with a deep and storied history in English football, the truth is that Newcastle have generally not been good enough at the same time as Liverpool to build a real rivalry.
But all of the drama and noise off the pitch is building this match into something unlike what we’ve seen between the two clubs in recent history. And that’s what makes this match so tantalizing; the stakes feel incredibly high because – for Newcastle especially, given the chance to take three points from the defending champs who also happen to be the club that have turned the head of your most valuable player. It is also a writer’s dream: the air surrounding this match is so thick with narrative tension that one might feel like even breathing might bring all of the principle players in this drama collapsing towards each other.
For my part, while I love all of this intrigue, I can’t help but feel conflicted given this moment. Especially given how Liverpool lost Trent Alexander-Arnold earlier in the window after the world’s best right-back decided to take his talents to Madrid. It was not the same – TAA’s behavior was exemplary even if one could feel disappointed in their ultimate decision. And it’s that caveat that’s ringing around my head given everything.
Ultimately, I recognize that football’s a career. That folks will need to make decisions that make sense for where they perceive their career to be. But being on the side of the club that a player wishes to join so badly that they’ve essentially torched every bridge in an attempt to force the issue is also something that feels so foreign. And, to be honest, I genuinely don’t know how to feel about it all save the obvious relief that we are big enough and grounded enough to be a major draw for elite-level players across Europe.
No one expects any new updates or movement in the Isak saga until after this match, so it will also be revealing in another way: it may portend the resolution of this entire ordeal. A thing that I would personally like to see.
