£65m deal set to spark major domino effect for Newcastle, Liverpool and Isak

For over six months, the message from Newcastle United has been the same: Alexander Isak is not for sale.

Whether you’re Real Madrid, PSG, Liverpool or another elite club, it would take a truly seismic figure to even begin discussions over a potential move for our star player.

But the last fortnight has certainly cast doubts over where he really is not for sale, as Isak’s own communications to the club that he wants to explore other options have many fans thinking he’s already played his last game for the club.

And a recent development could now kickstart the domino effect that leads to Isak leaving us this summer for pastures new…

Diaz deal to start domino effect?

Liverpool winger Luis Diaz is set to complete a mega €75m (£65m) move to Bayern Munich, should the 28-year-old pass his medical with the Bavarian giants.

It’s an annoyingly fantastic bit of business from the Reds based on his age, and they already have sufficient enough coverage at left wing to allow for Diaz’ departure.

Sky Sports’ Keith Downie now speculates that the transfer could be the catalyst for Liverpool to finally launch their audacious bid to sign Isak this summer.

Writing on X, Downie commented “This could potentially have a knock-on effect for Liverpool pursuit of Alexander Isak, with more funds to spend in the wake of Diaz’s departure.”

Despite having already brought in Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez this window, and spending £250m this window alone, the reigning Premier League champions may be close to having the funds needed to finally convince us to sell Isak and end his chapter on Tyneside.

What can we expect to happen next?

According to The Mail’s Craig Hope, the idea in Merseyside is that the Diaz sale has ‘formalised’ Liverpool’s offer to us for Isak.

And we’re anticipating this approach, which when coupled with Howe confirming that Isak won’t be joining the squad for the South Korean leg of the Asian tour, gives the impression that discussions could be due to start any day now.

There are a couple of things that fans who want Isak to stay at Newcastle can count on however: the first being Darwin Nunez, there’s still no concrete offer in yet for the Uruguayan, who may still need to be sold by Liverpool if they want to generate funds and space in attack for Isak to slot into.

The other is the influence of Yasir Al-Rumayyan: the club chairman has been adamant about not selling Isak, and has previously instructed us to avoid doing so by any means necessary.

So to truly test our resolve, could Arne Slot’s side offer a figure well above our oft-quoted £150m?

The significant profit we would have made off Isak would hypothetically go a long way into giving Howe the reinforcements he needs elsewhere in the squad.

But then this could have the negative effect of other clubs realising we have money to spend and squad spaces to fill: if we thought ‘Newcastle tax’ was bad before, it could get a lot worse if we sold Isak…