In practically a deadline day miracle, reports coming out of England past midnight on Monday morning are that Liverpool and Newcastle have finally reached an agreement for striker Alexander Isak.
David Ornstein of The Athletic broke the news not even an hour after reporting that negotiations were ongoing with the transfer window starting to close, with both clubs ready to put this whole embarrassing saga behind them.
Ornstein reports that the deal is worth £130m with no add ons, and Isak is set to
complete his medical on Monday before reporting to international duty with the Swedish national team. The report also mentions solidarity payments, and only costing Liverpool £125 million, which is likely due to Isak putting in the transfer request and forgoing his loyalty bonus for staying with the club. Ben Jacobs and Paul Joyce corroborated the story, including that the deal is for six years.
The whole messy saga has been well documented, with Liverpool’s initial bid of £110 million rejected early on, but it was Isak’s assertion of needing to leave and the relationship with the club going toxic quickly that has probably spurred everything along. Isak has publicly stated his desire to leave multiple times, and Newcastle have been unable to lock down a replacement until recently with the signing of Nick Woltemade from Stuttgart.
Isak has not trained or played with his Newcastle squadmates since the summer, after missing their preseason friendlies and training with his former club Real Sociedad since July. It hasn’t exactly been a good look for either the player or the club to be in this position, but once Isak is announced as a Liverpool player we can hopefully put the whole ugly business behind us.
