Jamie Carragher says Newcastle should sell wantaway striker Alexander Isak before Monday’s transfer deadline, comparing his situation to that of Fernando Torres at Liverpool.
Isak has been subject of a £110m bid from Liverpool this summer, with the club also signing Hugo Ekitike after Newcastle had been strongly linked with the striker as a potential replacement for Isak.
The Sweden international has not been involved with the first team since the end of last season, instead training away from his team-mates with his future unresolved.
In a twist of fate – and with a week to go until Deadline Day – Newcastle and Liverpool face each other on Monday Night Football, and Sky Sports’ Carragher offered his views on Isak’s situation ahead of the game.
“I don’t think a deal was ever going to get done before this game. I could not see that. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few days,” he said.
“I can’t believe that for Liverpool it is just Isak or no one but it does feel like that the closer we get to the end of the window.
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Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe says he is still hopeful of seeing Alexander Isak line up in a Newcastle shirt again but says the situation is still far from ideal
“Thierry Henry said that Isak is a must for Liverpool. I have never been of that opinion – [I am] one of the few Liverpool fans who is all in on Isak and we have to spend this money.
“I don’t think he is as durable as someone like Mo Salah. Actually, over the last three seasons he has missed 36 league games. It is almost a season out of three seasons.
“But I think Newcastle should sell Isak.
“There will be so many people outside telling Newcastle and Eddie Howe what they need to do. You have to be strong. You have to show Liverpool or any other club that players cannot just come in and demand to go.
Fernando Torres left Liverpool in January 2011 after months of transfer links with Chelsea
“But they don’t have the problem of Isak every day. They don’t have the problem that Eddie Howe has of going to every press conference and being asked about it. It is a cloud over the club constantly.
“I have experience of it. We had this with Fernando Torres at Liverpool, where he did not really want to be at the club.
“He ended up staying and we sold him in the January. Those four or five months were a nightmare for the club and everyone could not wait for him to move on.
“It is similar to Newcastle. As a club, they are delighted to be in the Champions League and Isak is a player who wants to win it. They are not there now and he is 25 going on 26.
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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot responds to questions over the club’s pursuit of Newcastle striker Alexander Isak, after a £110m bid was turned down earlier in the window
“When we were going for the Champions League, we had some world-class players. As soon as our level dropped, people like Torres, [Javier] Mascherano and [Xabi] Alonso – world-class players – wanted to leave because there was too much of a gap between where they are as players and where the club are.
“So it is not just me having a go at Newcastle and wanting their player to come to Liverpool, I have experience of that situation and when you have a player who does not want to be there it can be an absolute nightmare.”
Former Arsenal striker Henry called Isak one the Premier League’s best strikers right now, and agreed with Carragher that it is best if he leaves Newcastle.
“He’s up there with, if not the, best striker in the league at the moment,” he said on Monday Night Football.
“He’s a great striker. What he can give you off and on the ball, the way he finishes, but when you have a player in this type of situation where he wants to leave, it’s good that people are getting upset, because when a player is not good and a club wants him out, I don’t see anyone crying for the player.
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Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink gives his reaction to the transfer saga surrounding Newcastle’s Alexander Isak, who is aiming to secure a move to Premier League rivals Liverpool
“I can understand the fans and the club, but I also can understand him. You always put yourself in a situation as a player where people might not understand if you don’t come to training.
“We never know the whole story, but all I say is that you cannot put yourself in a situation when you don’t come to train.
“In an ideal world, the best thing for him and for everybody is if he can leave, but I also do believe that when someone makes a mistake, if he apologises, then we can move on.
“If he scores goals and he starts to play the same way he played last year, the Newcastle fans will be OK about it.”
