Liverpool: Isak ‘wants to leave’ after Newcastle ‘promise’

Liverpool are currently ‘focusing on three concrete options’ in their search for a new striker, including Alexander Isak, who waits for Newcastle to make good on their ‘promise’.

The Reds are comfortably this summer’s biggest spenders, with nearly £200m invested to so far to sign Armin Pecsi, Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and Freddie Woodman, with more moves expected from sporting director Richard Hughes to bolster Arne Slot’s title-winning squad.

They want to sign Marc Guehi to replace Jarell Quansah, who’s joined Bayer Leverkusen, but have no intention of paying Crystal Palace’s £50m asking price, and may need to sign another centre-back amid reports the Reds will ‘reluctantly accept offers between £40-50m’ for Ibrahima Konate this summer, who otherwise intends to run down his contract and leave for nothing at the end of next season.

The Reds are also keen on signing a striker, assuming Darwin Nunez leaves the club amid interest from Napoli, who have reportedly given themselves ’48 hours to decide’ whether to meet Liverpool’s demands, which are thought to be around £55m, or at least make an opening bid in the hope of coming to an agreement.

Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenburg has revealed which three strikers Liverpool have ‘conducted thorough checks on’ as they look for Nunez’s replacement.

He wrote on X: ‘Liverpool are currently focusing on three concrete options in their search for a new number 9: Hugo Ekitike, Alexander Isak, and Victor Osimhen. #LFC have conducted thorough checks and gathered information on all of them.

‘Ekitike, for example, is very high on the list. The French striker knows that if he moves to Liverpool, he will need to be patient because the club must sell players first.’

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It’s been widely reported that Isak is Slot’s ‘dream’ striker and that Liverpool are prepared to break both their wage structure and transfer record to land the Sweden international.

And journalist Gianluca Di Marzio has now revealed that Isak is waiting on Newcastle to make good on their “promise” from the end of last season of allowing him to “look at other options” after he told them he would “like to leave”.

Di Marzio told Ace Odds: “I think Liverpool want Alexander Isak and Victor Osimhen too.

“For Isak it depends on Newcastle, because the player talked to the coach and the club at the end of the season because he would like to leave but Newcastle are not open to that, at the moment.

“So it depends on Newcastle and Isak’s discussion, if the club will be open to having him on the market. Newcastle is a tough club and they want to keep their best players for next season, including Sandro Tonali.

“Alexander Isak would like to look at other options because at the end of this season, he had the promise from the club and the coach but Newcastle haven’t acted seriously on that yet.”