Eddy
Newcastle insiders have reportedly made a shocking new claim about Alexander Isak, threatening to poison his reputation beyond repair. The Sweden international became the Premier League’s record transfer on deadline day, completing his long-awaited £125 million move to champions Liverpool on Monday night.
Much has been made of the way he secured the switch, with the 25-year-old going on strike, issuing a public statement criticising Newcastle’s hierarchy over ‘broken promises’, and failing to acknowledge the fans at any point. In the end, though, all that mattered to him was that he landed his dream move – the same scenario for Yoane Wissa, who came in as his replacement, while Marc Guehi, a model professional, missed out on his own switch to Anfield due to his respect for the process.
But if his relationship with the Magpies was already strained, the latest reports about Isak’s behaviour towards the end of the 2024/25 campaign – when Newcastle had to dig deep to find a final burst of form to secure Champions League football – could make an already fraught situation even more volatile.
Newcastle Insiders Claim Isak Tried To Sabotage UCL Qualification
Luke Edwards, a journalist for The Telegraph, has found himself at the centre of the biggest transfer saga of the summer. From the outset, he positioned himself as the authority on the Isak situation, insisting the player was not for sale and that Liverpool had no realistic path to sign him. But after the walls closed in on the Magpies, and they caved and sold for £25 million less than their initial asking price, the latest suggestion from Edwards has opened a whole new can of worms.
According to Edwards, who posted on X and wrote an article chronicling the ins and outs of Isak’s departure, including notes from as far back as May, there are accusations that Isak was “behaving and playing like someone who did not want the team to qualify for the Champions League, as he knew it would make it harder for him to explain to Howe and the supporters why he wanted to go.” In his article, he wrote (see his post below):
“Insiders say Isak’s behaviour changed again after that Wembley win. He became quiet and withdrawn; he was not focused or working hard in training. Having scored the winning goal against Liverpool at Wembley and enjoyed the victory parade, there are those that think Isak, privately, felt he had achieved all he wanted as a Newcastle player.”
He added: “It was against that backdrop that Newcastle’s board began to consider what they would do if Isak wanted to leave. They were braced for bids and attempts to unsettle the player. An asking price in excess of £150m was the first and most important step. It was so high, it was designed to effectively inform potential buyers that the player was not for sale.”
There has been a noticeable divide over Edwards’ claims. Plenty of Liverpool supporters have condemned the journalist for passing on information which seemingly accuses Isak of failing to give his all, while Newcastle fans’ anger towards the striker has intensified.
Some fanpages even put together a compilation of his misses from May onwards, by which point he had scored the winner in the League Cup final and supposedly made up his mind about his future. Other journalists, such as Craig Hope of the Daily Mail, have also authenticated Edwards’ story.
But with Isak now at Anfield, the biggest transfer saga of the summer – indisputably bigger than the one that saw Trent Alexander-Arnold join Real Madrid – is finally coming to an end, even if the fallout lingers for a few weeks yet as more details emerge about how and why the situation was allowed to get to this point.
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