Having sold Luis Diaz and Darwin Nuñez while Federico Chiesa remains clearly unfavored by Liverpool manager Arne Slot and is expected to depart—and all of that added to the tragic death of striker Diogo Jota this summer—the Reds are currently looking very, very light in the attack.
Summer striker signing Hugo Ekitike certainly looked a hit in his competitive debut against Crystal Palace in the Community Shield on Sunday, but right now the only established first team forward options on the books are the young Frenchman along with Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo.
Others may be able to fill in in attack, but for a season where Liverpool want to play more than 60 games and will need to cover at least 15,000 important minutes amongst the three front line positions, that simply isn’t enough. Another attacker is needed. They want it to be Alexander Isak.
Getting the 25-year-old Swedish superstar out of Newcastle has been difficult, though—not that anyone thought it would be easy. Now, journalists with ties to the north-east club say The Toon have set out an ultimatum: a serious bid must arrive or Isak needs to buckle down and reintegrate.
There is also, for the first time, the floating of £130M being a serious bid from Newcastle’s point of view after previously setting out £150M, a fee Liverpool have always signalled they would never go to, as the valuation. An offer of £110M for Isak has already been rejected out of hand.
So strong was Newcastle’s rejection of the bid that Liverpool put their interest on the back burner and suggested a new one would not arrive without encouragement—as they were never going to go all the way to £150 and Newcastle’s stance seemed to be that no negotiation was possible.
Is this perhaps a sign encouragement has been given behind the scenes and that an improved second offer might even be in the works? There’s no suggestion of that from more reliable sources, but it seems possible. And in any case, it’s clear Liverpool do very much need another attacker.