Former Newcastle United boss Sam Allardyce has called for the Premier League to make a major change to rules in the midst of Alexander Isak’s transfer situation.
It appears clear that the Sweden international will not be a part of Eddie Howe’s squad until a resolution can be found to the ongoing transfer situation.
Alexander Isak is subject to serious interest from Liverpool, who have already seen a staggering £110million bid rejected by Newcastle United this summer.
The stance has been the same since before the transfer window opened: Newcastle are not willing to sell Isak, and would only accept offers exceeding £150million. PIF have found themselves involved in Isak’s transfer saga, with Newcastle board members telling him that he will not be sold this summer.
Howe has made it clear that he is not able to bring Isak back into the first-team picture until the situation changes drastically. His comments came before reports that Isak is refusing to be reintegrated into first-team training.
While the saga continues, Sam Allardyce has criticised Isak’s agent and called for a change.
Alexander Isak holds the ball during a Premier League game between Newcastle United and Everton.
Photo by George Wood/Getty Images
Sam Allardyce calls for agent rules to be changed amid Alexander Isak situation
Allardyce thinks Newcastle should sell Isak; he believes there is no way back for the 25-year-old who has not played for the Magpies since the final day of the 2024/25 season in May.
Newcastle are set to line up with either William Osula or Anthony Gordon in Isak’s place against Aston Villa on Saturday, but Howe would have preferred to have his star striker available for a difficult game.
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There has been a lot of attention on Isak’s agent in recent days, with his involvement in the saga a clear catalyst for what is going on. In turn, Allardyce has called for a change in the Premier League to prevent such issues from occurring in the future.
“We’ve got to talk about the agents,” Allardyce said on TalkSPORT.
“The agents need some real sorting out for me because the agents are behind this. In my opinion, the agents will be telling the player, ‘don’t go in, refuse to play, and then we’ll get you away’.
“They’ll stay in communication with the club that wants him over that basis until such time as that club moves in again with a slightly higher bit or not.
“It’s too much power with the player and too much power with the agents, and something has to be done about it, certainly with the sort of money that’s escalating again. Wages and transfer fees are escalating beyond recognition.
“I think that should have been controlled years and years ago, but it’s run away with everybody, and everybody gets frightened, and everybody starts splashing out money that not only massive in terms of the transfer fee, but contracts are bigger than transfer fees. So they need to stand up somewhere, or the rules need to be changed.”
No end in sight as Alexander Isak digs his heels in over Newcastle United exit
Don Hutchison called for Isak to sack his agent due to the way his transfer saga has panned out. His desire to leave and lack of willingness to train with the first team have caused fans to turn on Isak, so it will be difficult for him to regain the trust he had with them last season.
Newcastle fans do not mind if Isak leaves, but it remains to be seen whether he still has a future on Tyneside.
In a World Cup year, Isak will not want to sit on the sidelines and let the chance to play in such a big competition go by. Should Isak stay, the striker could be reintegrated into the first team picture without much issue, but he must do a lot more to win the trust back of the fans.
Additionally, summer signing Anthony Elanga joined Newcastle to play with Isak. The winger plays with the 25-year-old on international duty with Sweden, so he will surely be telling him to get his act together and get himself back in training with his teammates.