The summer transfer drama has been a boon for the Premier League and its global appeal, with Alexander Isak's dramatic move to Liverpool from Newcastle capturing the headlines
Dave Powell is the Chief Business of Football Writer for Reach Plc, covering matters of football finance and governance. A former news and court reporter and ex-sports editor of the Chester Chronicle, Dave's work includes exclusives with the likes of Liverpool owner John W. Henry.
Liverpool completed the signing of Alexander Isak from Newcastle United on deadline day
Liverpool completed the signing of Alexander Isak from Newcastle United on deadline day
(Image: Nikki Dyer - LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
The transfer story of the summer has reached its conclusion, thankfully. Alexander Isak is now a Liverpool player, Newcastle United are £125m richer and Eddie Howe can now get asked other questions.
On the saga surrounding the 25-year-old Swede, many have different opinions. Some think the way he went about things was wrong, others see no problem with it. Some see being unedifying on the part of Liverpool in the way it has played out, while some look at the transfer tussle with Yoane Wissa and his similar stance to that of Isak’s being hypocritical to suggest wrongdoing on Liverpool’s part.
Liverpool’s opening gambit was £110m. That was seen as a derisory figure by some, while Newcastle’s £150m or nothing stance always seemed like it would never hold, because this is a game where nobody gets to have it go the way that they want it all the time. They are all the cast of the world’s biggest soap opera, and storyline changes daily. That’s why it’s so compelling.
It wasn’t Liverpool’s job to pay what Newcastle felt Isak was worth. Valuations are largely arbitrary. A good season can inflate a price far beyond what is reasonable. Isak had proven Premier League experience and that was leverage, but so did Christian Benteke.
Liverpool made an opening offer to kick start negotiations, but as the relationship between Isak and Newcastle soured, both player and club became involved in attritional warfare and some distance was created between the two clubs.
But just like it wasn’t Liverpool’s issue that Newcastle hadn’t landed targets before sanctioning Isak’s move, or that the price on the label was what would have to be paid, it wasn’t Newcastle’s issue either. They wanted the highest price because they had more to lose, and they needed to ensure that they had transformational capital arriving into the club that could aid them in the market for some time.
In the end, both sides got what they wanted. Liverpool get a world-class striker, Newcastle receive British transfer record fee, the PIF get to say that they held Liverpool’s feet to the fire for the price, and Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group get to flex their muscles in front of the Saudi Arabian ownership of the Magpies, demonstrating how much further there is to travel for Newcastle and the PIF to be on the other side of this kind of transfer tale.
The biggest winners? Probably the Premier League. Things haven’t been smooth sailing for the administration of the world’s biggest, most successful and most watched domestic football league.
From legal cases with Manchester City, to the short-lived plans for the European Super League, to the in-fighting with member clubs and dishing out of sanctions for breaching financial regulations, it has been an organisation not painted in the best light over the last five years.
But it has remained a dominant force. While the Saudi Pro League seeks to spend for recognition and clout, and while Spain’s La Liga sees the lack of appetite for English clubs to play regular season games in the United States as a way to claw back ground, and with Italy’s Serie A far removed from its 1990s pomp and France’s Ligue 1 in financial peril, the Premier League has been growing and growing.
Domestic viewership and broadcast rights may well be challenged in the next few years in the face of increased piracy and a reluctance and ability of traditional broadcasters to go much higher, but the international market is still growing and bountiful opportunities lie ahead, from Asia to North America and beyond.
The Premier League is England’s top tier of professional football, yes, but it has become a global attraction, and its theatre and drama has been a big part of that. The Premier League don’t want to be subject to overregulation when it comes to the new independent regulator for the game, because they are a huge media business which doesn’t want the handbrake to be pulled up on its ambitions to become even bigger.
After a fair few bloody noses in recent times, the Isak transfer tale, however unbecoming it may appear to some, has given real drama to the summer months. It has dominated headlines longer than the FIFA Club World Cup, and its story, and all the subplots that will arrive when the player and clubs meet again, will see that continue.
A new record was set for a British transfer fee, and the financial might of the Premier League was displayed. A world-class talent wasn’t leaving to join Real Madrid or Barcelona, they were leaving to make the current English champions even stronger. That in itself is a sign of the strength of the league.
Then there is the backdrop of Newcastle’s ownership by the PIF, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. The PIF’s arrival into the Premier League has brought with it regulatory changes due to concerns by other member clubs around the potential of having an organisation that looks after more than £800bn in assets blowing the rest out of the water.
The arrival of the PIF in the Premier League was seen as a bold move to accelerate the Saudi football project. It was supposed to embody the football ambitions of the Gulf nation and the anticipation was that, with financial muscle, the club would break up what had become an established monopoly among the six biggest clubs. They have done that to an extent, but they have found themselves hamstrung by financial regulation, and that has slowed the pace of growth considerably.
The Newcastle acquisition was a soft power play, and the ambitions for the club remain the same as they were when the PIF arrived in 2021. They want to be the best.
But the success of Liverpool in taking the club’s best asset will be seen as a sign of concession, and it has created an interesting narrative for the Premier League and shown that even the threat of the Saudi revolution in football is by no means a long-term threat to English football’s top tier.
The Premier League both wants and needs its league to be dramatic, and in the modern day in order to be compelling beyond the 90 minutes on the pitch, that needs to involve compelling storylines.
Isak, Liverpool and Newcastle have delivered that this summer, and the Premier League will see themselves as the main beneficiaries.