Newcastle have agreed a British record deal worth £130m to sell Isak to the reigning Premier League champions, ending a saga that has rumbled on throughout the summer and completely overshadowed the Magpies’ start to the season.
With an agreement having been reached in the early hours of this morning, Isak has been given permission to travel to Merseyside to complete the deal.
The Swedish striker is due to undergo a medical this morning, with all parties confident the deal will be formally concluded well ahead of today’s 7pm deadline.
Liverpool are understandably overjoyed with overnight developments, with Isak’s arrival set to be the highlight of a stellar summer that has also seen them complete the £116m signing of Florian Wirtz, the £79m addition of Hugo Ekitike and deals for Jeremie Frimpong and Giovann Leoni. The Reds remain hopeful of completing the deadline-day signing of Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace.
Isak’s departure will leave Newcastle’s ownership group, led by the Saudi Arabian PIF, facing a host of difficult questions.
Isak has been allowed to leave even though the conditions laid out in last week’s response to the forward’s incendiary social medial post have not been met. Liverpool have increased the initial offer that was rejected at the start of the month, but while Newcastle completed the club-record signing of Nick Woltemade on Saturday, they have not yet recruited the second striker that was cited as an essential requirement of any deal being given the green light.
Internally, the dynamics shifted in the last few days when it became clear that key figures within the club had concluded that a successful reintegration of the 25-year-old would be pretty much impossible.
Eddie Howe's position on Isak appeared to hardened on Friday when he went as far as he possibly could in criticising the forward's conduct, and it is understood that senior players have also shifted their stance on the Swede during the period in which he has made himself unavailable for first-team selection.
Newcastle's deadline-day priority is now to sign a new forward, with a number of options still on the table. Talks with Brentford over Yoane Wissa and Wolves over Jorgen Strand Larsen remain ongoing, but neither club has shifted their position on their respective player in the last few days.
Wissa is regarded as a more realistic possibility, but reports yesterday were insisting that Brentford are demanding £65m for the 28-year-old, which is a sum Newcastle will not pay.
Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson is a possibility, with the striker’s proposed loan move to Bayern Munich having been called off over the weekend when Liam Delap suffered a serious hamstring injury.
Chelsea have subsequently recalled Marc Guiu from Sunderland, and with Bayern insisting they will not be entering into further discussions over Jackson, the Senegal international could potentially be available.
Bayern were going to pay around £17m as a loan fee for Jackson though, and Newcastle will be understandably reluctant to shell out so much money just to have a player for one season.
A loan with an option to pay is a potential compromise, perhaps with Newcastle agreeing to a hefty penalty clause that they would have to pay if they opted not to take up the option of a permanent transfer next summer.
Senior Newcastle recruitment figures have also been examining the possibility of a overseas signing in the last 24 hours, although at this stage, nothing is believed to be close.