Some Liverpool fans see the Magpies striker's refusal to play for the club as a cause for celebration - but the Sky Sports pundit isn't quite so convinced
Jamie Carragher should be ecstatic at the prospect of Liverpool breaking the British transfer record for Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak.
Part pundit, part dyed in the wool Red, Carragher manages to balance his passion for Liverpool with his position as one of the most strident and informed voices in English football.
So his perspective on a transfer saga that has turned toxic makes for fascinating listening.
To recap: Liverpool want Isak, Isak wants Liverpool. Newcastle’s conditions for sale, despite a public insistence that they don’t want a deal, is a £150m offer and two replacements of a similar standard.
With that now looking increasingly unlikely, Isak’s camp pulled the pin out of the grenade and told Newcastle he consider his time at St James’ Park to be up.
Isak has scored 62 goals in 109 appearances for Newcastle (Photo: Getty)
An already fraught situation – the Sweden international will not be considered for Saturday’s opener against Aston Villa despite being fit – is being stretched to breaking point.
Some Liverpool fans see Isak’s hard line as a cause for celebration.
But Carragher, who sounds decidedly lukewarm about the deal, is not one of them.
“I don’t like it when a player downs tools,” he tells The i Paper.
“I wouldn’t like it if it was a Liverpool player and I do feel for the Newcastle fans a bit.
“He’s obviously a god to them, a hero.”
Carragher’s position is that he thinks Isak will be at Anfield before 1 September.
He believes Newcastle fans, begrudgingly, will recognise that he wants to compete for the biggest trophies.
But taking the nuclear option of refusing to be considered for selection is never the right path.
“I don’t think any Newcastle fan is naive to think that Alexander Isak is going to spend his whole career at the club,” Carragher, speaking on behalf of Sky Sports ahead of the new season, continues.
“Sometimes a problem occurs – and it happened at Liverpool when I was there with Steven Gerrard – where the player outgrows the club. He’s almost too good and that’s what has probably happened here.
“Newcastle are delighted to be in the Champions League, Isak wants to win it. That’s when you have a problem and the player wants to move on. So I’ve got no problem with Isak wanting to leave but he’s in a difficult situation with his contract because Newcastle have the power and there’s three years to go. Should he have had a buy-out clause, should he be looking at his agent now he finds himself in this position?
“Transfers happen every summer but I don’t think you should ever go toxic or nuclear where you refuse to play or train. That may be what forces the move in the end, so who am I to say it’s wrong, but I just don’t like it. They’re paying his wages, they’ve been great to you, you’ve been great for them, just keep training, keep playing and hope a deal gets done.”
The Sweden international does not see his future at St James’ Park (Photo: Getty)
The genesis of the issue – it is disputed by Newcastle sources that Isak said he wanted out earlier this year, or that he told them it would be his last season at the club – appears to be the late July wrangle for Hugo Ekitike.
Newcastle moved for the 23-year-old, insisting they wanted him and Isak in the same squad.
But Isak thought that move, which coincided with Liverpool’s first contact with Newcastle, was the green light for him to go.
What occurred was Liverpool signing Ekitike and unsettling Isak. Carragher admits to feeling confused by that.
“I’m a bit uneasy because Liverpool have already bought a striker for a hefty sum of money,” he says.
“They do need two more attacking players, they need another striker and they need another wide player to replace what’s gone. But when you sign a striker for £80m – and I think this kid [Ekitike] looks a really good player – Liverpool have signed him to be the next Isak.
“I just scratch my head to think where he gets his minutes if Isak signs because you wouldn’t be able to leave him out, he’s that good a player and you’d have spent that much money on him.
“So I do worry a little bit for Ekitike. People say you need all sorts of different players and you do need that but sometimes you buy someone who is so expensive and so good they don’t have competition, they just play. That’s what Mo Salah has done for seven or eight years.
“The backup ends up getting frustrated, there’s no reason for them being there.
Your next read
“If Liverpool get Isak am I happy as a supporter? Yes, he’s another great player. But I won’t be devastated if it doesn’t happen because they have a great prospect there, he’s looked great in pre-season.
“I look at it now and [Newcastle] at the time were trying to be strong, saying they wanted both of them.
“But when you think about it the best thing they could have done is sat down and said ‘You have Ekitike, we have Isak’ and everyone would be in a much better position.