“If Newcastle confirm Ekitike now and Liverpool can meet their price on Isak, it seems a smart move to sell at the top of his market moment.”
SO much of this is about timing and control.
The Alexander Isak news crashed down yesterday. And my expectation is that it will keep crashing until the end of the week one way or another.
Liverpool aren’t going to be messing about and they aren’t going to want to wait much longer. News breaking that Newcastle are coming to an agreement with Frankfurt over Hugo Ekitike suggests Liverpool may well manage to get their way.
But time is of the essence. Isak has returned from his holiday and may well have made his feelings known to Newcastle. They could still decide to ride roughshod over those feelings for 12 months regardless, but next season Isak will either have a new deal which will presumably have a release clause in it or he will have two years left.
If Newcastle can confirm Ekitike now and if Liverpool can reach their price point on Isak, it seems a smart move to sell at the top of the Isak market moment. Newcastle and Liverpool would both have their season’s number nines in for much of preseason.
But footballers and football clubs often aren’t smart. And rightly so. Our game is built on emotion. Isak has been an important part of Newcastle’s journey to date and I’d argue that only by getting a top quality replacement should they consider letting them go.
Newcastle need to be the first club since Arsenal that isn’t Manchester City or Liverpool to achieve back-to-back Champions League finishes.
Watching some quarters of football bang on about the Big Six makes me wonder what they have been watching. The Big Six has been smashed to smithereens, in part by its own hubris and stupidity.
Newcastle United are looking to pick up the pieces. Newcastle United are looking to be the only club with the suffix United to be seen as a Champions League regular. And they are the best placed for that.
My point is this: they have agency and they have wants and needs and emotions. But a want and need is to create PSR wiggleroom. They aren’t just looking to exchange Isak for Ekitike and some money, they don’t need to worry about money.
They are looking to exchange Isak for Ekitike and the ability to spend money. They need to replace Isak with a special player, but they also want to upgrade in goal, at full back and at centre back. If they manage all that then that pathway to being a Champions League team in 2026 gets better.
Selling players to improve has always been part of football. That the rules set up to protect clubs and competitions now have that as a byproduct isn’t a bad thing, though we can all see how it would be annoying. Mind you, I find it annoying that clubs backed by the financial power of states actually exist.
But Liverpool work with them. Liverpool may well end up making the money for Isak from a fee for Darwin Nunez from a Saudi Arabian club and perhaps even making a deal on Harvey Elliott with Newcastle. Or selling Elliott elsewhere, who needs to play.
My point here is that the moral high ground is slippery. In 2023, Liverpool provided themselves with midfield wiggle room by trading with Saudi Arabian clubs in a way which, had it been done by Newcastle, would have had me up in arms.
Rodrygo remains linked; it was always unlikely he would move before the Club World Cup and it is now unlikely any move will be confirmed before he returns from his holiday. What that gives Liverpool is the chance to see if they can raise the vast majority of his asking price from shifting Luis Diaz on.
It’s important to say this: I think they are more than happy to have Diaz as part of the squad this season and this is what gives them control.
Liverpool are in the position of having control of much of the market for attackers. They are the biggest fish looking for an attacker; their rivals keep taking themselves off the board. They have a group of players they have just won with. They have already made a massive signing which should increase their attacking output and have added depth where it was required.
They don’t have anywhere near as much control on the centre-back picture but defenders are boring, aren’t they?
In short, be excited. Liverpool have more agency than anyone else. Liverpool are choosing. For instance, if Ekitike doesn’t sign for Liverpool, it is because Liverpool are happy with that state of affairs. Be excited. But remember they don’t have total agency.
Everyone isn’t rational either. But football would be boring if they were.
