Was it all a ploy? | OneFootball

I write articles for The Mag semi-regularly but occasionally; despite finishing an article, I don’t send it in.

I have a few of these unpublished articles kicking about the archives. Sometimes, once completed, I find somebody has written something which pretty much covers the sentiment I had wished to convey.

Sometimes I don’t really like the article, so decide it isn’t suitable for consumption.

Sometimes the timing is just downright horrendous.

Therefore, when I finished the article ‘Imagine Supporting A Team Nobody Wants To Leave’ in mid-July only for, well, you know what, I decided I wouldn’t be sending that one off to the editor.

I thought it was a decent piece too.

Sorry to add another Alexander Isak article to the abundance already available but it’s my first say on the topic and I’ve got quite a bit to unload.

Firstly, having read the statement he released, I have definitively joined the anti-Isak brigade.

Throughout this saga I’ve been fairly understanding of his position. When he said he ‘wanted to explore his options’, having heard that Liverpool were interested, I didn’t immediately hate him for it.

You can see in all the club released videos that he’s a born competitor. He wants to win every challenge they have going, be it basketball, ping pong or Guess Who. He’s a winner through and through, so the opportunity to move to a club that is considered more likely to help him add to his medal tally isn’t something I would chastise him for.

Likewise, the salary side of things. Yes, £120k a week to all of us mere mortals would be an astronomical sum to be hitting the account. However, it’s all economies of scale. When one of the best strikers in the league and Europe is seeing donkeys at Old Trafford getting paid double what he is, he probably feels he is worthy of a sharp increase.

His international teammate Victor Gyokeres has just joined Arsenal on a reported £200k a week having never scored a Premier League goal and only done the business in the Championship and (Championship standard) Portuguese La Liga.

I don’t know if players sit around comparing pay slips but I’m sure things like cars, houses, holidays and various other extravagancies all come up in conversation. If Gyokeres can afford a better house, more expensive cars and a robot butler, Isak may feel a little undervalued.

Even when it was reported that Alexander Isak had gone off to Spain to train and then on his return had been banished to train alone, I reserved my judgement. Everything we were fed was through the media, no doubt via his agent. Although clearly the conversation Isak had had with Howe on his return to England must have annoyed the gaffer enough for him to decide that he didn’t want him back with the main squad. I thought that potentially it was just the fact that Isak was still posturing for a move that meant he couldn’t be incorporated with the squad. Not ideal, but if somebody came in with a reasonable offer, he would be within his rights to ‘explore his options’ with that club.

I still considered him a club legend at that point. I’m sure many wouldn’t have agreed. How can a wantaway striker be considered a legend? He’s only spent three years grafting for the team. However, he has spent those three years scoring vital goals to help us qualify twice for the Champions League and, most importantly, he bagged the one that decided the Carabao Cup final.

In fact, I would be confident in stating that we wouldn’t have won that cup without him. He terrorised Arsenal across two legs, scoring in the first and helping Murphy (after rocketing a shot off the post) score in the second. He also netted the opener against Chelsea in the fourth round. He dominated Liverpool in that final too.

Last week, a theory appeared in my brain. It all felt a bit conspiratorial. The kind of Twitter nonsense that I would usually quickly disregard but having mentioned it to others, they’ve all said that they completely agree that it is plausible.

First a bit of background on Alexander Isak vs Liverpool.

Isak made his debut on 31st of August 2022. Within 38 minutes he had announced himself with the opening goal and had an iffy marginal decision deny him a second. We went on to lose that one, as I’m sure you’ll remember, the referee forgot where his whistle was until Liverpool found the winner.

We’ve played Liverpool six more times since Isak’s debut. Isak didn’t feature in one of them, the 2-0 loss in February this year, but he’s had something of an impact in the majority of the others. Having trawled through the archives, these are our seven meetings against Liverpool since Isak signed.

31.08.22 (2-1 loss) Isak scored and had another disallowed 18.02.23 (0-2 loss) Pope sent off in the 22nd minute 27.08.23 (1-2 loss) Isak fouled by Van Dijk for the red card 01.01.24 (4-2 loss) Isak scored to level things up at 1-1 after Salah’s opener 04.12.24 (3-3) Isak scored the opener and assisted Gordon to put us back ahead 26.02.25 (2-0 loss) Isak didn’t feature 16.03.2025 (2-1 win) Isak scores second goal which proves to be the winner

In six appearances against Liverpool, Alexander Isak has scored four goals, assisted another and helped reduce Liverpool to 10 men in one clash.

In the game that Pope got sent off we didn’t have much hope of getting back into it, although we did play well despite his early dismissal. We’ve only won one of all those encounters, but there’s no denying that Isak has played a big part in keeping us competitive in each fixture, having scored or assisted more than half the nine goals we’ve managed in those games.

Van Dijk seems genuinely terrified of Isak as he’s been run ragged so many times. The goal in the 3-3 draw this season was a goal of the season contender and the Swede made the Dutchman look completely average in that match.

One thing I noticed going through those previous fixtures is we’ve played Liverpool in August two of the previous three seasons. This match will be the third August head-to-head in four years.

Having just won the Premier League and plotting the defence of that title, the last thing the suits at Liverpool HQ would have wanted  for their first away game, would be St James’ Park and Alexander Isak. There aren’t many tougher first away games they could have been granted. So, what to do? And here’s where I’ll sprinkle a little bit of conspiracy.

What if Liverpool have never been serious about buying Alexander Isak? What if the whole process has been a ploy to unsettle our star man and get him removed from the clash?

It was Liverpool who floated their interest in Isak and suggested they were willing to part with £120m to land their man. The fee would have usurped the Premier League record they had just spent on Wirtz. It’s a respectable sum. Except, reports indicated we wouldn’t settle for any less than £150m.

Having successfully got Isak’s attention, they then lodged a bid of… £110m. Did I read that right? I thought it was £120m they’d been willing to pay! Since that initial bid was rejected there has been no follow up offer. The situation has steadily degenerated whilst Liverpool have silently enjoyed the show. There has been no counter offer. No further attempts to purchase him.

If this was all Liverpool’s plan then I have to give it to them, they’ve played a blinder. They’ve unsettled our main man and allowed him to dig himself into a quarry that he won’t climb out of before we play them in a few days time.

Liverpool may have ‘played’ Alexander Isak and forced him not only to miss our clash with them but also to completely alienate him from his previously adoring fanbase.

There is still a route back for him if he’s our player after the transfer window closes but it’s a long one and I can’t imagine we’ll see the best of the striker for a couple of months. He will be under contract and will have to buck up his act and start performing if he wants serious offers in January, or next summer, however the damage is near critical and will take an abundance of work to reverse.

It does feel outlandish to suggest this was Liverpool’s plan all along but if they don’t put in another bid before the window closes, I would certainly be inclined to believe it. Maybe, once they got Ekitike in, they decided they didn’t need Isak anymore. Maybe had we got the Frenchman, they would have gone all out for Isak and lodged a bid worthy of contemplation.

It might be they come back in late on with a bid of £120m/£130m, thinking that with the circus that has now played out, we’d take it just to remove ourselves of this troublesome character and scenario. From our own statement, I think an offer in that ball park would still be rejected and rightly so. To accept a lower off would just dignify the behaviour and set an example that may be replicated in the future.

Regardless, it is clear Liverpool have one less problem to worry about under the lights.

All we can hope is that the whole scenario explodes back on them and a super charged St James’ and mega motivated Newcastle United turn over these red rogues. To paraphrase a Newcastle legend, ‘I would love it if we smashed them. Love it!’