Alexander Isak is open to a move away from Newcastle, with Liverpool his preferred destination. The Sweden striker has not travelled with his teammates on a pre-season tour to Asia and is looking into his options.
Isak has long been interested in joining Liverpool but the possibility of it happening this summer is remote. The striker has a contract until 2028 and the Premier League champions would need to raise funds through sales to afford a player valued at about £120m.
Liverpool signed another striker, Hugo Ekitiké, this week for £79m after concluding that Isak was out of reach. They may prioritise a centre-back over another forward. Newcastle had also been interested in Ekitiké but missed out after also failing to lure Liam Delap, who preferred to join Chelsea from Ipswich. Newcastle retain an interest in Yoane Wissa and have bid for the Brentford forward.
Isak missed a friendly at Celtic last Saturday and was left out of the 30-man squad that travelled to Asia because of what Newcastle described as a minor thigh injury. Eddie Howe’s side will play Arsenal in Singapore on Sunday and then face two fixtures in South Korea, against a K League XI and Tottenham.
Howe said after the Celtic game of Isak’s absence: “It was my decision. He travelled back to Glasgow with us but I decided to send him home due to the speculation around him. The last thing he wanted is to be sat in the stand watching, that wasn’t fair to him. But I’m confident he will be a Newcastle player come the end of the window.”
Newcastle have no desire to sell Isak as they prepare for a Champions League campaign. There has been an eagerness at the club to extend and improve Isak’s contract, after he scored 23 goals in 34 Premier League games to help the team finish fifth, but the 25-year-old has shown little enthusiasm for the idea.
Arsenal have made the Valencia defender Cristhian Mosquera their fifth signing of the summer, taking the club’s spending to close to £140m. The Spaniard joins for an initial fee of £13m – with performance-related add-ons – and is understood to have agreed a five-year deal with an option of a further year.
The 21-year-old is set to provide cover for William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães at the heart of the Gunners’ defence, but can operate anywhere along the backline. Mosquera, who played 41 times for Valencia last season, has joined Arsenal for their tour of Singapore and Hong Kong.
“It means a lot to me,” Mosquera told his new club’s website. “There’s been a lot of hard work behind all of this. It’s an opportunity that came up and I couldn’t let it pass me by. I’m joining a historic, massive club. When you arrive here with your family, you really feel the greatness of this place.”
