As Liverpool -target alexander Isak asks to explore Newcastle United, here his wage requirements would place him in the Premier League top earners' list
Alexander Isak has asked Newcastle United to leave – and has rejected a new contract offer in St James's Park.
The striker has told the magpies that he wants to explore the club's step. He remains on the Radar of Liverpool – despite the signing of £ 79 million of the champions of Hugo Ekitike of Eintracht Frankfurt – with the Reds open to break the British transfer record with a potential £ 125 million movement.
It was confirmed on Thursday morning that Isak will miss the pre-season trip from Newcastle to Asia with what is described as a small thigh problem. But Isak looks at his options. In the midst of speculation about his future, Eddie Howe chose to send the Swede home from the pre-season game in Celtic last weekend.
The representative of Isak, Gonzalo Gaitan, recently revealed that he “studies and analyzes all options”. He told Saudi Publication Arriyadiyah: “We can close the next step for the player. Without revealing details about whether Isak will transfer or stay with Newcastle.”
Discussions about a new Newcastle contract for Isak are underway. His existing deal, which only calls at 2028, is worth around £ 120,000 a week. But Isak was promised a new deal by Amanda Staveley before she left the club – only it had not appeared under the now formator sports director Paul Mitchell.
And after a bumper season for the goal, score 23 times in the Premier League, the player and his club are a lot apart to their respective ratings. As reported by De Tijd, the camp of Isak has pursued a package worth £ 300k per week, a figure outside the current wage structure of Newcastle, where the tone is only prepared to go up to £ 200k per week.
The requirements of Isak would eventually raise him to the top earners of the Premier League. And unless Newcastle has reached that brand, he is not interested in negotiating a new deal in the northeast.
Howe spoke to rumors about Isak when he explained his decision to send him home for the Celtic game. He said, “It was my decision. He traveled with us back to Glasgow, but I decided to send him home because of the speculation around him.”
The boss of Magpies added: “Yes, I have had discussions with him, but that is not abnormal. I respect the career of a player and how short it is. Alex has been really good, he has been very well trained and I realize that there will be noise around him.
“So if you have them, you have to cherish them. Of course we are desperate to keep it as part of our team. I think it is difficult for me to ever give 100 percent clarity to every player, I would never do that.
“The only thing I can say is that Alex is happy with Newcastle, he loves the players, the staff, the team. I have never had a problem with him and I am convinced that he will be here at the start of the season.”
However, since those words, the landscape has shifted considerably, where Isak is increasingly likely to continue, with Liverpool at the front of the queue for his services and able to finance a mega-money deal