Alexander Isak transfer news: What needs to happen for Liverpool to sign Newcastle United's striker this summer

Liverpool would need Newcastle United to soften their stance in order to sign wantaway striker Alexander Isak, Reds transfer expert David Lynch has insisted.

Sensational reports emerged on Thursday claiming that the Swedish forward has informed the Toon of his desire to seek a move away amid interest from the Merseysiders.

The Reds are thought to be in a healthy financial position, with the club ready to bid in excess of £100m to bring Isak to Anfield.

However, Lynch reiterated that Newcastle would still have to indicate that they were willing to sell the forward, telling Sports Mole: "It is so incredibly difficult to predict. Nobody at Liverpool is saying there's no chance of this happening at the moment, though they're playing down how much contact there has been.

"But there's definitely interest in Alexander Isak and an acknowledgement that if there's a deal there to be done, Liverpool, at the very least, would try to do it.

"Newcastle can can stamp their feet and dig their heels in, and that's the vibe of what they are doing, but if their stance softens somehow, Liverpool want to be there."

Liverpool have already spent £100m on Florian Wirtz, but they have been strongly credited with an interest in Isak irrespective of their spending this summer.

Why Newcastle should consider selling Isak to Liverpool

Newcastle have struggled to get a number of deals over the line this summer, missing out on the likes of Liam Delap and Bryan Mbeumo, so perhaps selling Isak would help them land key targets.

Liverpool were once in a similar position to the Toon having sold Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for £114.9m in January 2018, and they used the funds to sign Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker.

Lynch insisted that a sale could benefit Newcastle, when he told Sports Mole: "How wise would it be to go further down the line and further into the window to then actually sell Isak anyway? I struggle to see how [that would work]. With Newcastle, it goes above Eddie Howe's head - what's the sensible sporting decision at this point?

"Liverpool did a similar thing with Coutinho and he ended up getting pushed back [from the summer] to the January window when he eventually did go. It showed at the time when they did sell him, it was ultimately a sensible decision."

The Reds signed Van Dijk in the same January that they sold Coutinho in, and they bought Alisson the following summer, and they would go on to win the Champions League in 2018-19, as well as the Premier League title in 2019-20.

Could Hugo Ekitike and Isak play together under Arne Slot?

Liverpool fans thought that the club had moved on from Isak given they had signed Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt for an initial fee of £69m.

It would be surprising if the Reds had intentions of benching Ekitike considering his price tag, though it remains to be seen if boss Arne Slot would change his formation to accommodate him and Isak.

Speaking to Sports Mole, Lynch found it hard to envisage a two-striker system, saying: "We thought that there's no way it's possible for Newcastle to sign Ekitike and keep Isak, it didn't seem realistic, so why is it realistic for Liverpool? That's fair to ask that question.

"Liverpool would argue 'we had six senior forwards last season - Salah, Gakpo, Diaz, Jota, Nunez, Chiesa - so why would it be not feasible for us to have five this season and one of those five be Isak and the other be Ekitike?'

"You could talk yourself there. There probably would be rotation in the team if it goes far in the domestic cups, goes far in the Champions League and the Premier League, and has to play a game every three days for basically the entirety of the season. You could make a case that there are enough games for everyone, but it's a tough one."

There have been suggestions that Ekitike could be viewed as a left-winger, and he would therefore be the replacement for Luis Diaz, who has been strongly linked with a move to Bayern Munich.

Written by
Lewis Nolan