Wayne Rooney has given his verdict on Manchester Unitedplaceholder image
Wayne Rooney has given his verdict on Manchester United | BBC Sport
Alexander Isak is desperate to move to Liverpool but Wayne Rooney reckons that the Newcastle striker is out of order.
Not even Doc Brown and his DeLorean Time Machine could have foreseen how Liverpool’s pursuit of Alexander Isak was going to play out this summer.
At one point, the record signing of Florian Wirtz made onlookers think that the well wouldn’t be deep enough with funds for Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kermez also committed only for Richard Hughes to offer £110m for the Newcastle United striker. A £150m valuation saw the offer knocked back with the Reds swiftly moving on to Hugo Ekitike and ruining the Magpies’ own recruitment plans in the process.
Alexander Isak downs tools as Newcastle star faces uncertain future
The toys were then thrown out of the pram with Isak downing tools and releasing a statement before Newcastle gave their version of events too. A stand off that shows no sign of being resolved any time soon unless Liverpool make another bid and the sort of bid that is acceptable to the St James’ Park outfit.
Isak has firmly dug his heels in, is refusing to train or play, but with a three year contract still to run, he has little choice but to return to work and present himself at some point in the very near future. The transfer window has barely a week left to run and with every passing day, the chances of Newcastle agreeing to let him leave without their exact valuation being matched are almost nil.
To compound matters, a move for Yoane Wissa at Brentford has followed an almost identical path as that of Isak’s failed move to Liverpool. The only difference being that Wissa has just a year left on his current deal. That Brentford are equally as desperate to find a replacement doesn’t seem to be making things any easier.
Wayne Rooney wouldn’t want to play with Isak
Speaking on his BBC Podcast, Wayne Rooney thinks that Isak has burnt his bridges and that there is no way back after his recent behaviour: "If I'm a Newcastle player I don't want Isak back. I think if players leave football clubs - and that happens all the time - there's a way to go about it. You can't go on strike, can't not turn up for training and train with your team-mates. If you want to leave the club or not, you have to be there for your team-mates and be ready if needed."
"For me, I don't think there's any way back for Isak at Newcastle," Rooney said. "I think there are cases where it can happen, but from me as a person, I don't think I could accept them back. In terms of Isak's team-mates I wouldn't want him back. You can ask to leave a football club - that happens, or the club tell you you're leaving - but you have to be professional. You've got friends in there who you play with, you have fans who are paying a lot of money to support and you can't just walk out on it. And if they're going to do it once, they'll do it again."
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