With the start of the 2025/26 Premier League season less than a week away, the Alexander Isak transfer saga appears to be no closer to a conclusion. 

The Liverpool career of a previous big-money signing appears to be over, however, with the club having accepted a £46.3 million bid for Darwin Núñez from Saudi side Al-Hilal. The Uruguayan signed off with a goal in Monday’s 3-2 win over Athletic Club and looks set to leave Anfield as a popular, but frustrating figure.  

Núñez’s exit frees up a space in the LFC forward ranks as well as contributing a welcome injection of funds. Much has been made of Newcastle’s failure to land any of their summer striking targets, with Benjamin Šeško choosing to join Manchester United over the Magpies. 

Could Šeško’s decision affect the likelihood of Isak moving? Or does the departure of Núñez mean a final blockbuster signing is around the corner? 

On the latest episode of our Journo Insight show, we asked the Liverpool Echo’s LFC correspondent, Paul Gorst, for his thoughts on the Isak developments.

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Paul said:  

[On Núñez]  

“It’s a bit of a godsend for Liverpool, really. With the bonuses on top of it, it’s going to be around about £54 million, which is a really good fee for a player who clearly wasn’t fancied. 

“Good luck to him – he will leave with the memories of all the late winners… a player who will be missed behind the scenes because I know he was a great character to have around. 

“It was Ian Graham who was almost saying after the fact that Liverpool looked at Alexander Isak and Darwin Núñez in 2022. Isak was at Sociedad and Núñez was at Benfica, and it was Klopp who had the deciding say.” 

[On Isak]  

“They are speaking about prioritising an attacker, but you don’t need much of an imagination to think that it will be Alexander Isak who they will now continue to pursue. 

“I think Liverpool will go back in for him at some stage, and I think he will become a Liverpool player before the transfer window closes.  

“Will it be after that game at Newcastle in August? It would be fascinating if it wasn’t and he was a Liverpool player by then, that’s going to dominate the headlines around that game. 

“Gun to my head, I think Isak will eventually become a Liverpool player now.”

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REDMEN REACTS 

What started off as a pipe dream is increasingly looking like a reality. With Alexander Isak – hailed as ‘world class’ by Alan Shearer – making his intentions abundantly clear to both Liverpool and Newcastle United, the sensible move for the Magpies would now be to try and extract the largest possible fee for their star man and reinvest it sensibly. With frustrations amongst the fanbase already boiling over, the sale of Isak would be an extremely unpopular move and a huge letdown for a club riding the dual emotional highs of winning the EFL Cup and qualifying for the Champions League. It appears as if a replacement would need to be through the door at St. James’ Park before negotiations over a fee can begin. The arrival of a new striker on Tyneside would likely be celebrated more by Kopites than it would by Geordies! Could what has already been a scarcely believable LFC transfer window have one final act? Let’s find out.