Liverpool make surprise decision over Alexander Isak pursuit after Newcastle bid rejected | OneFootball

Liverpool have decided against making a second bid for Alexander Isak after seeing a £110m offer rejected by Newcastle United.

The Premier League champions believe the swiftness and clarity of Newcastle’s response means it would be futile to up their club record offer for the striker.

Liverpool, who had made an inquiry for the 25-year-old last month, stepped up their interest in the Newcastle top scorer as they looked to take their summer spending up towards £400m.

But the Carabao Cup winners had long maintained their top scorer was not for sale and they immediately rebuffed turned Liverpool’s bid down.

Isak had told them he wanted to explore the possibility of a move, leading manager Eddie Howe to omit him from Newcastle’s friendly defeat to Celtic because of the speculation and admit the forward’s future was out of his hands.

The Sweden international is missing United’s pre-season tour of Asia with what the club called a minor thigh injury and has trained with his former club Real Sociedad this week in an attempt to regain fitness.

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Alexander Isak’s Newcastle future is in doubt amid intense speculation (PA Wire)

Liverpool are determined to be ambitious in their recruitment and head coach Arne Slot has said they will target high-quality players.

They have already bought one striker, Hugo Ekitike, for £69m this summer, purchasing a player Newcastle had tried to purchase, as well as the £100m club record buy Florian Wirtz and full-backs Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong.

However, they also sold winger Luis Diaz, who spent some of last season operating as a centre-forward, to Bayern Munich this week for £65.5m and there could be further departures among attackers, with doubts about the futures of Federico Chiesa and Darwin Nunez.

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Liverpool are long-time admirers of Newcastle striker Alexander Isak (PA Wire)

Newcastle have not got a ready-made replacement for Isak and, after Callum Wilson left the club, have fewer strikers than they did last season. Howe has been frustrated in his attempts to buy a host of other forwards, including Liam Delap, Joao Pedro and Bryan Mbeumo but while Newcastle are interested in Brentford’s Yoane Wissa, they are yet to conclude a deal for him, while their only major signing this transfer window is winger Anthony Elanga.

Isak scored 23 Premier League goals for Newcastle last season as well as a Carabao Cup final strike against Liverpool. He has three years left on his contract at Newcastle but is now unlikely to sign an extension.