Newcastle have concerns that Liverpool are poised to employ the same patient strategy that previously secured Virgil van Dijk in their pursuit of \u00a3150million-valued striker Alexander Isak. The Premier League title holders have signalled their willingness to shelve their interest in the Swedish forward following the Magpies’ rejection of a \u00a3110m offer.<\/p>\n
Isak has expressed his desire for a switch to Merseyside and has been using Real Sociedad’s training ground whilst his team-mates embark on their Asian pre-season tour, having missed the trip due to a minor thigh complaint. The 25-year-old forward risks losing favour with the St James’ Park faithful despite boss Eddie Howe’s reassurances that he retains the club’s complete backing. Should relations deteriorate, this would intensify pressure on the Tyneside outfit to grant Isak’s wishes by striking an agreement with the Reds.<\/p>\n
Liverpool<\/a> have previously navigated similar waters with Van Dijk. They withdrew from pursuing the Dutch centre-back when Southampton lodged a complaint with the Premier League regarding their negotiation tactics during summer 2017.<\/p>\n The grievance was withdrawn after Jurgen Klopp<\/a> publicly announced their interest in the defender had concluded – yet five months later Van Dijk was secured for \u00a375million.<\/p>\n Former Saints chairman Ralph Krueger acknowledged the saga had “created an earthquake” at St Mary’s. Should Newcastle<\/a>‘s Saudi ownership feel they are being cornered into a difficult position, it could prove counterproductive for both Liverpool<\/a> and Isak. But manager Howe is eager to capitalise on the momentum from ending Toon’s 70-year wait for silverware last term and securing Champions League football.<\/p>\n He has been cautious not to shut the door completely on his star player making a comeback. Howe, whose side take on Tottenham<\/a> in Seoul on Sunday, said: “I am very much removed from everything that is happening back home.<\/p>\n “I was made aware there was a bid yesterday. That bid was turned down before I heard about it. There are people back in England dealing with the situation.<\/p>\n “I really don’t know what is going to happen next but, from our perspective, we still support Alex in every way and my wish is still that we see him in a Newcastle<\/a> shirt again.<\/p>\n “I know where he is through the media, so I think from that perspective it’s difficult for me to go into any detail. The situation is far from ideal. It is quite complex. I think that is all I have got to say.”<\/p>\n Newcastle<\/a> are confident they have moved ahead of Manchester United<\/a> in pursuit of RB Leipzig’s Slovenian forward Benjamin Sesko after submitting an offer worth \u00a370m, including add-ons.<\/p>\n Should they succeed, that would encourage Liverpool<\/a> to believe they can secure Isak during this transfer window despite investing almost \u00a3300m in strengthening Arne Slot<\/a>‘s title-chasing squad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Newcastle have concerns that Liverpool are poised to employ the same patient strategy that previously secured Virgil van…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[9261,748,393,4884,179,763,1127,3047,11492,101,16,15,1465],"class_list":{"0":"post-313014","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-alexander-isak","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-liverpool-fc","14":"tag-liverpool-transfer-news","15":"tag-newcastle-united","16":"tag-newcastle-united-fc","17":"tag-premier-league","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-virgil-van-dijk"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114961569796918375","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313014","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=313014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}