‘The most likely scenario is…’ – Football finance expert makes Alexander Isak transfer prediction | OneFootball

Alexander Isak has been heavily linked with a potential move to Liverpool this summer, but how likely is that prospective transfer to materialise?

The Athletic‘s David Ornstein reported this week that the Reds have made an approach to Newcastle for the striker, with Fabrizio Romano subsequently claiming that the Premier League champions would be prepared to offer £120m for the Sweden international.

In recent days, we exclusively shared on Empire of the Kop that FSG are putting together a potential club-record package to try and land the 25-year-old, who could be the subject of a six-year contract offer from Merseyside and would seemingly be open to joining LFC.

How likely are Liverpool to sign Alexander Isak?

The rumoured pursuit of Isak comes amid speculation over a possible move to the Saudi Pro League for Darwin Nunez, with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) keen to bring the Uruguayan to the Middle East.

However, football finance expert Stefan Borson outlined the ‘lunacy’ of a transfer merry-go-round which could see PIF inadvertently funding a move to Liverpool for the Swedish striker, whose current club are also owned by Mohammed bin Salman’s sovereign wealth fund.

He told Football Insider: “If Liverpool could get some crazy fee for Nunez out of Saudi Arabia, say to the point where they could put, let’s say £150m on the table.

“I don’t know, maybe, but then you’ve just got the lunacy of a situation where on the one hand, PIF are paying for a Liverpool player and then Liverpool are just giving them the money back via Newcastle.

(Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

“By the way, if that was to occur, there’s a very good chance that there’d be people looking at the deal and going, ‘Hang on a minute, those deals look connected’.

“On the one hand, you’ve got a connected party of Newcastle United buying a player from Liverpool, and then Liverpool buying from Newcastle who are a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia, so I think there’s all sorts of challenges with the deal. I think the most likely scenario is Isak stays at Newcastle.”

Newcastle likely to hold onto Isak despite Liverpool’s clear interest

The ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ nature of Nunez potentially going to Saudi Arabia and Liverpool then signing Isak from Newcastle highlights the delicate nature of football club ownership in the modern era, with many enterprises now having their fingers in multiple pies.

The chickens of the multi-club model have come home to roost with the reprehensible soap opera which has seen FA Cup winners Crystal Palace cruelly demoted to the Conference League due to John Textor’s simultaneous involvement with Lyon.

There’s no doubt in the slightest that signing the Swedish striker would be one hell of a power play from the Reds, who’ve already broken their transfer record this summer to sign Florian Wirtz, although at present it seems unlikely to happen.

Liverpool have instead seemed to focus their efforts on landing Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt for a more affordable (yet not inconsiderable) £75m, and Sky Sports reporter Keith Downie claimed that LFC would drop their pursuit of Isak if they get a deal done for the Frenchman.

From a footballing and financial sense, Newcastle’s qualification for the Champions League could ensure that they keep hold of the 25-year-old, although we imagine that Richard Hughes won’t be ready just yet to give up on any designs to pull off what’d be the statement transfer heist of the summer.