Hugo Ekitike<\/a>in July, signing the France Under-21 international for \u00a379m after Newcastle had a bid around \u00a370m turned down prior to the Reds’ move.<\/p>\nBenjamin Sesko had been viewed as the blue-chip replacement at \u00a373m from RB Leipzig but the Slovenia international was also courted by Manchester United and eventually opted for Old Trafford over St James’ Park.<\/p>\n
The ongoing efforts to bolster the attacking ranks after Anthony Elanga’s addition go on for Newcastle, who have endured a very difficult summer.<\/p>\n
Who are Newcastle United targeting now?<\/strong><\/p>\nNewcastle have been chasing Yoane Wissa at Brentford all summer but, like Liverpool with Isak, have so far been met resistance from the west Londoners, despite the forward’s unwillingness to turn out presently at the Gtech Community Stadium.<\/p>\n
That deal drags on but the Magpies have also seen two bids rejected for Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Jorgen Strand Larsen. An initial \u00a350m offer was turned down before a return at \u00a355m was also rebuffed, despite the Norwegian reportedly making it clear he sees his future at St James’ Park.<\/p>\n
At the time of writing, the North East club are awaiting a major breakthrough on both deals and have been linked with a loan move for Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson, who is keen to leave Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n
But last night (August 28), it emerged that Newcastle had struck an agreement worth a reported \u00a377m for Stuttgart’s Germany Under-21 striker Nick Woltemade.<\/p>\n
The forward is said to be set for a Friday medical after a deal was reached in what represents a major breakthrough for the Magpies’ recruitment department.<\/p>\n
Landing two of those four targets might be the key that unlocks this stalemate.<\/p>\n
Liverpool’s stance on Alexander |Isak<\/strong><\/p>\nKey figures at Liverpool have been careful to avoid speaking publicly or privately on this particular situation, feeling their input only amplifies what is already an unhealthy amount of noise in their efforts to land a top striker.<\/p>\n
The Reds tabled a flat offer of \u00a3110m at the start of August having reportedly told their counterparts they would be willing to bid \u00a3120m about three weeks earlier.<\/p>\n
That bid, oddly, has been criticised by some as a derisory opening gambit, despite the fact that no other footballer in British football has ever gone for a fee that high without add-ons.<\/p>\n
The Reds gauging the temperature of Newcastle\u2019s emphatic response, have since kept their counsel and stepped away, awaiting further encouragement to return to the negotiating table. Newcastle\u2019s reply has been interpreted by some as a need to secure replacements before they reluctantly acquiesce to the demands of Isak.<\/p>\n
Prior to Isak\u2019s inflammatory public statement, via his Instagram story, it\u2019d been suggested by some familiar with the Newcastle operation that an agreement might eventually be found at \u00a3130m.<\/p>\n
Liverpool’s month-long waiting game goes on, for now.<\/p>\n
What Arne Slot has said<\/strong><\/p>\n“I think the story should be about Hugo Ekitike scoring another goal for us,\u201d Slot said when asked directly about Isak on Monday evening. \u201cHe has been three games with us now, scored three goals, impacted the games he played. This is not the place to talk about anything other than that.”<\/p>\n
Asked by the ECHO last week about whether he feels sufficiently stocked up top, Slot said: “It depends how you want to look at it. If you want to add Florian Wirtz as an attacking option then you can make it five.<\/p>\n
“So yeah, we’ve sold Darwin and brought in Hugo. Lucho (Diaz) has gone, you can maybe see Florian as a replacement for that. And, yes, we all know what happened to Diogo (Jota).<\/p>\n
“If you look at it like this, maybe we haven’t [got enough] but Jeremie Frimpong, when he is fit, is definitely an option to play as a winger as well, so then we end up at six forwards. I think I said it already, we have six players that can play in three positions. That is the answer, yes, I’m happy.”<\/p>\n
That question came after the Liverpool head coach had been asked about the Isak pursuit in his open press conference, to which he replied: “What I can tell you is not a lot. And if someone else asks that question, it’s going to be the same answer.<\/p>\n
“As I’ve said so many times and it’s been shown on Friday, I could impact the game with who we had on the bench. Federico [Chiesa] came in and scored a goal. So it would be much nicer for us to talk about the players who we have but I understand you have to ask the question.”<\/p>\n
What Eddie Howe has said<\/strong><\/p>\nNewcastle boss Eddie Howe has been forced to deal with an avalanche of Isak-related questions since that night in Glasgow back on July 19.<\/p>\n
The Magpies manager has largely answered with diplomacy, garnering further admiration from the club’s fanbase while also being careful not to rock the boat with the player and his representatives.<\/p>\n
Howe was quizzed about the situation before and after each of the club’s three friendlies in the Far East as well their Sela Cup games against Atletico Madrid and Espanyol at home and after the loss to Celtic, all before the two pre-match and post-match press conferences for their two Premier League fixtures to date.<\/p>\n
The former Bournemouth boss has rarely appeared as though the ongoing questions have started to get to him, to his credit, but it must be a situation he can’t wait to find a resolution for, whatever it may yet be.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Monday, Howe said: \u201cI\u2019ve not been party to talks on this for a long time now. I\u2019ve been preparing the team and giving my energy to players who want to play for Newcastle. That\u2019s where my energy is best served.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no idea where that (Isak) stands at this second. The ideal from Newcastle\u2019s side is we want clarity, we want to move forward. We want the narrative to change.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in the start of the season now and we have to get results and try to focus on what we can control. We\u2019ve given two really good performances and taken just one point. That\u2019s tough for us to take.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe quality of Alex would have made a difference in the two games, there\u2019s no denying that. But that said the team functioned well and the performance doesn\u2019t happen without every part of the team functioning well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ECHO breaks down the Alexander Isak transfer saga – and how it has come to this for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[9261,748,393,4884,179,763,1596,11492,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-381307","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-fc-transfer-news","15":"tag-newcastle-united-fc","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115109273639815005","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381307","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=381307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Alexander](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1_GettyImages-2211448920.jpg\")
Alexander Isak has made it clear he wants to leave Newcastle United and sign for Liverpool before the transfer window closes on Monday, September 1(Image: PAUL ELLIS\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n