With 10 days remaining of the transfer window, the transfer saga that could see Alexander Isak sign for Liverpool from Newcastle United rumbles on
Federico Chiesa may finally have lift off at Liverpool after a season playing catch up
Federico Chiesa may finally have lift off at Liverpool after a season playing catch up
(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA, Getty Images)
With Eddie Howe confirming, somewhat inevitably, that Alexander Isak will not be involved against Liverpool on Monday night, the wantaway Newcastle United striker’s self-inflicted exile continues. The Swede has not featured for the Magpies throughout pre-season and continues to train alone as he looks to hold out for an exit.
The 25-year-old considers his Newcastle future over and made that clear publicly on Tuesday when sharing a statement on social media. Moments after he was confirmed as being named in the PFA's Team of the Year for last season, he hit out at the Magpies as he cited broken promises behind the scenes.
Isak has made it clear that he wants to leave Newcastle, and reportedly made such wishes clear to the Magpies before last season even finished.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has since admitted he did hold talks with the striker regarding his future prior to the end of last season, but refused to divulge whether Isak had been asking to leave St. James’ Park back then.
The saga regarding the Swede’s future is an ugly one, but with only nine days to go until the transfer window closes, a resolution of sorts is perhaps coming into sight one way or the other.
Liverpool had a £110m bid rejected by the Magpies earlier this month and are understood to be ready to return to the table should they be given encouragement from the North East that a deal could be possible.
Only time will tell if such encouragement is forthcoming following the Reds’ trip to St. James’ Park on Monday night.
Following that clash on Tyneside, there will be a week of the transfer window remaining. A week for the two clubs to thrash out a potential deal, while Newcastle pursue further attacking recruits of their own.
Otherwise, it is a week more for the Magpies to retain Isak’s signature, before then facing the unenviable task of trying to reintegrate the striker into their playing ranks after the most disruptive of summers.
Isak has missed the entirety of Newcastle’s pre-season schedule, sitting out a clash with Celtic before being left out of their squad for a pre-season tour of Asia. A minor thigh injury was cited at the time, as the striker opted to train alone at former club Real Sociedad instead.
He has since returned to fitness, but continues to train alone back at Newcastle after being instructed to return to Tyneside. Having sat out the Magpies’ Premier League opener against Aston Villa, Howe has already confirmed the striker will miss their clash with Liverpool.
With his future still unresolved and a return to the group seemingly not imminent, it would be a surprise if Isak made a playing return away at Leeds United on Saturday, August 30 - should he still be a Newcastle player heading into the final 72 hours of the transfer window.
But even if Liverpool were to make a breakthrough with the Magpies before then, it would perhaps be bold to expect the striker to be thrown straight into Arne Slot’s first-team plans. For the record, the Reds host Arsenal in their final match of the transfer window on Sunday 31 August.
After all, it has already been 90 days and counting since he last played a match. And it has been over a month since he took part in team training.
With the international break lurking after transfer deadline day, Isak could make a return for his country - if called up - when Sweden take on Slovenia (September 5) and Kosovo (September 8) in their latest World Cup qualifiers.
Otherwise, the earliest he could return from essentially strike action for Newcastle would be against Wolves on September 13. Alternatively, if he completes a late move to Liverpool, a possible debut could await away at Burnley on September 14 - by which point it could have been 112 days since his last outing.
An absence totalling the best part of four months is not to be sniffed at. And the Reds already know that first-hand.
Last summer, Federico Chiesa was Liverpool’s sole summer signing as the Italian signed from Juventus in an initial £10m deal at the end of August.
He had been bombed out by the Serie A giants all summer, having been deemed surplus to requirements, as he was made to train away from the squad and did not feature throughout pre-season.
Left out of the Reds’ squads for clashes with Manchester United and Nottingham Forest following the September international break, the Italian made his debut off the bench at home to AFC Bournemouth on September 21.
Having not played since Italy’s Euro 2024 exit to Switzerland on June 29, his absence from the pitch - while not self-inflicted - lasted 84 days.
Chiesa’s struggles in his maiden season at Anfield are well-documented as he struggled with fitness issues and found his game-time limited.
Making just 14 appearances, totalling 466 minutes of action, the 27-year-old ultimately paid the price after being forced to play catch-up following his move to Liverpool.
After scoring his first Premier League goal in the Reds’ opening game of the season against Bournemouth last week, there is hope that the Italian can now at least belatedly kickstart his Anfield career.
Speaking ahead of facing Newcastle, Slot admitted the forward is now in a much better place - even taking into consideration he missed Liverpool’s own tour of the Far East with a minor issue.
“If he’s more available then he already has more chances to impact our results or his playing time,” he said. “So yeah, but then it’s about him staying as fit as he is in the moment.
“I see a totally different Federico now than through large parts of last season. Which is completely normal, because he missed out on the whole pre-season and then came into a Premier League rhythm in terms of amount of games and in terms of intensity.
“He’s in a much better place now and, as we can all see, when we needed a goal and I looked to the bench I only had him and Rio (Ngumoha), a 16-year-old, as attacking options.
“For me, although Rio did really well in pre-season, it was quite a normal choice to make to bring [Chiesa] in and he delivered.”
Admittedly, there are differences between Chiesa’s situation - given his injury past - and Isak’s, with the Swede at least now preparing for his third season in the Premier League.
But whether he remains in black and white or ends up in red come September, it is inevitable that it will take him time to get back up to speed after a disjointed summer.
Be it returning star forward for Newcastle or British record signing at Liverpool, whichever club ends up as his employer will have to be patient with the striker to get back up to speed.
Sure, his lone work during his self-inflicted exile might be enough to belatedly kickstart his campaign. But as the Reds found out with Chiesa last season, it’s not always as simple as that.