{"id":275003,"date":"2025-07-19T15:06:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T15:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/275003\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T15:06:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T15:06:10","slug":"alexander-isak-left-out-of-newcastle-friendly-club-say-not-transfer-related-liverpool-fc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/275003\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Isak left out of Newcastle friendly – club say not transfer related – Liverpool FC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alexander Isak was left out of Newcastle<\/a>\u2018s squad for their opening friendly of pre-season against Celtic, with the club insisting it was not transfer-related.<\/b><\/p>\n

Newcastle<\/a> kicked off their warmup schedule with a trip to Parkhead on Saturday afternoon, with Isak among the most notable names absent.<\/p>\n

The striker was not named in Eddie Howe\u2019s starting lineup or among 14 substitutes for the 3pm kickoff.<\/p>\n

Joelinton was also left out, with Newcastle<\/a>\u2018s official line<\/a> being that \u201cboth [are] having their minutes managed\u201d due to recent injuries.<\/p>\n

Isak pulled out of the Sweden squad for friendlies against Hungary and Algeria last month due to a groin issue and that is believed to be the reason he has been rested.<\/p>\n

Whether Newcastle<\/a>\u2018s public stance is entirely true remains to be seen, with the striker not only attracting interest from Liverpool but also, according to claims on Friday, Saudi side Al-Hilal.<\/p>\n

\"LONDON,<\/p>\n

It has been noted that Joelinton made the trip to Glasgow along with his teammates while Isak did not, adding another wrinkle to the story.<\/p>\n

This comes after transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano explained that Liverpool were \u201cnot closing the doors<\/a>\u201d on a deal for the 25-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously if Newcastle<\/a> change their mind and decide to sell the player to Liverpool, Liverpool as of today are still open to that,\u201d Romano said on YouTube.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiverpool are not closing the doors to Alexander Isak. He\u2019s the dream target for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if Newcastle<\/a> change their mind, Liverpool will also be there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

BBC Sport<\/a>\u2018s Sami Mokbel is another to maintain that Liverpool\u2019s interest had not ended despite seemingly pivoting to Eintracht Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitike.<\/p>\n

Ekitike himself is currently slated for involvement in a friendly against FSV Frankfurt on Saturday evening, suggesting a move to Anfield is not as close as anticipated by this point.<\/p>\n

It could be that Newcastle<\/a> manager Howe provides an update on the situation around his No. 14 after the friendly against Celtic.<\/p>\n

Whether Isak will have agitated for a move remains to be seen, though that is thought to be the only way Liverpool\u2019s priority target for the centre-forward position would secure a move to Merseyside.<\/p>\n

\"LONDON,<\/p>\n

Newcastle<\/a> are adamant he is not for sale despite Liverpool having already made an informal offer worth around \u00a3120 million.<\/p>\n

A major sticking point for both Isak and his current club are that, while his contract runs until 2028, negotiations over an improved deal are hampered by their PSR issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsak is already one of their highest earners and, while on the open market his salary demands could be vast, his present club cannot afford to massively increase his wages,\u201d writes The Athletic<\/a>\u2018s Chris Waugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr, if they do, they may need to trim the wage bill elsewhere, or potentially sell, due to PSR.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alexander Isak was left out of Newcastle\u2018s squad for their opening friendly of pre-season against Celtic, with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[94,763,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-275003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-liverpool-fc","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114880524263347455","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}