Isak still to settle the summer battle of the strikers

Which Premier League club has got the best deal for a forward? It will eventually be Liverpool

Fri, 15 Aug, 2025 - 07:00

Ian Whittell

WHEN - not if - Liverpool lift the Premier League trophy in nine months' time thanks in large part to the goals of Alexander Isak, Arne Slot will no doubt recall the unlikely barney over a barbecue that will have played such a significant role in their back-to-back titles.

If there was ever any doubt as to the frankly priceless value of that one player who has an extraordinary knack of putting the ball in the back of the opposition's net, then look no further than the Isak soap opera at Newcastle.

The soon to be Liverpool forward has not so much had his head turned through unofficial channels of communication from Anfield, more it's been rotated a full 180 degrees, to such an extent that he is doing everything in his power to force through a move to the defending champions.

The way Eddie Howe has been forced to tip-toe around the issue for fear of upsetting a player he clearly would like to aim both barrels at due to his conduct tells you all you need to know about who holds the power in modern football. Clue: big name players, especially strikers, and their agents.

Along with inviting the sulky Swede to train on his own in response to this unwanted escape plan, the Newcastle manager blocked Isak's participation in a players' families get-together last month, barring him from the barbecue.

It was a largely innocuous and symbolic move, one which shows how little recourse to significant action managers have these days when attempting to deal with player power. Isak must really enjoy his seared meat, because this dig in the ribs was clearly the final straw for the 25-year-old as far as his previously thriving working relationship with Howe was concerned.

The impasse between player and manager, and therefore player and club has now been rumbling on for weeks, meaning Newcastle have been left to play an unsuccessful game of catch-up on the merry-go-round that is the summer transfer window, strikers edition. It's almost been worth its own mini-series, filed under tragi-comedy, only not many Geordies are laughing.

While they wait helplessly for Liverpool to eventually up their bid - Isak is theirs for £135m - Newcastle have seen so many potential targets come and go that it has almost become comical.

There was Brighton's Joao Pedro, off to Chelsea; Liverpool rubbing salt in the wounds by landing long-term Toon target Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt. And when you are beaten to the punch for the signature of RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko by that basket-case of a club Manchester United, who into the bargain paid a lesser transfer fee and reduced wages to those tabled by the Magpies, you know something is wrong at St James' Park.

They've dug such a hole for themselves, the Geordies are barrel-scraping to such an extent that they're even considering Nicolas Jackson, an underachiever who Chelsea somehow value at £80m. Good luck with that asking price, lads.

Newcastle's summer of discontent highlights perfectly just how it's a prolific striker's world, and we just happen to live in it. If you're in that 0.1 per cent of elite goalscorers able to pick and choose which high-profile club you opt for, then that's exactly what you do, such is the value of the commodity you peddle, the equivalent of crack cocaine for wealthy club owners - goals.

Erling Haaland and Mo Salah will have other ideas when it comes to the destination of the Golden Boot in May, but of the new boys, Ekitike should finish comfortably ahead of Sesko in the goal charts, largely due to the respective service each will receive. Both are likely to have a similar conversion rate but the Liverpool forward will be the beneficiary of more clear-cut chances than his fellow Premier League summer arrival.

The fact that Viktor Gyokeres isn't even guaranteed to push his way past the pedestrian talents of Kai Havertz to start for Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday tells you all you need to know about the Swede's hopes of hitting the goal trail in a significant way this season. He has been prolific in lesser leagues, a footballing flat-track bully, but the 27-year-old will be lucky to reach double figures this time.

Isak would have been a much better fit at the Emirates, but like Newcastle, Arsenal have been left to muse on what might have been.

Liverpool's first away game of the season comes at St James' Park on Monday week. They will resist the urge to further fan the flames by pushing through a deal within the next few days and risk their new record signing facing a debut from hell against the fans who once idolised him but who are not slow to offer a piece of their mind to anyone who, unlike them, wouldn't walk over broken bottles of Newky Brown to don the iconic black and white shirt.

From a Liverpool perspective, that awkward reunion can be deftly avoided, and there is still plenty of time for business to be finalised before September 1.

Meanwhile, in the striker slow lane, as it were, the Magpies are waiting anxiously on whether the ankle injury suffered in pre-season by Anthony Gordon will prevent the winger from becoming their makeshift forward for the season-opener at Aston Villa. Yes, it's become that desperate. England's Ollie Watkins, another forward they have inquired about, is nailed on to score against them at the weekend, isn't he?

It's got to a point where Howe is even being trolled by League Two managers. Andy Woodman, one-time Newcastle goalkeeping coach now in charge at Bromley, poked fun last week when trying to play down interest in his star striker, Michael Cheek. "Unless Liverpool want to take him instead of Isak, Michael won't be leaving."

Kick them while they're down, why don't you, Woody? For the not so genial Geordies, it's been that kind of summer.

Liverpool players are too honest for their own good – Arne Slot