Alexander Isak can do nothing wrong right now. The 25-year-old is enjoying a highly prolific 2024/25 season for Newcastle United, terrorizing Premier League opponents and proving his quality in the most challenging league in the world.
Isak has scored 17 goals and managed five assists in 23 Premier League games this season. Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland, and Chris Wood are the only players to have more goals. In 75 Premier League games, Isak has 48 goals and is two goals away from reaching the 50-goal mark.
He’s proven his quality against the best teams. Isak blew away the defensively sturdy Arsenal side on multiple occasions, scoring two goals in three games against them. The 25-year-old’s stock keeps growing and the speculation keeps piling on his future at St. James Park beyond the 2042/25 season.
Fortunately for Newcastle United, they have safeguards in place ensured to not lose Isak for cheap. The Swedish forward has a contract with the Magpies until the end of June, 2028. This has given them enough fuel to put a crazy valuation on the in-form striker.
The Sun has reported that Newcastle United have no desire to sell Isak and are valuing him at over £160 million. This is more than double what they signed him for from Real Sociedad (£65 million).
The Magpies want to build their team around the 25-year-old striker and will only consider a Premier League-record bid to consider letting him leave anytime soon.
Doubling down on the stance, The Mirror has also claimed that even £150 million might not be enough for a club to sign the striker.
This fee itself is enough to scare off many interested parties. The majority of European clubs don’t even have a £150 million transfer budget for summer windows. However, Isak’s sheer potential and his goal-scoring quality could tempt a few particular clubs to make a move for him.
Arsenal
Isak, for one, remains Arsenal’s ‘dream’ transfer target, as per Fabrizio Romano. That is why Newcastle United have set that price tag to scare them off. However, the Gunners could make an ambitious move for Isak in the 2025 summer transfer window.
To do so, they will have to sell multiple players and generate more revenue to their transfer budget. Gabriel Jesus, ruled out for the rest of the 2024/25 season with another injury, could be sold in the summer.
Arsenal splurged out £105 million towards signing Declan Rice from West Ham United in 2023. They’ve shown to have a capability of signing quality players from Premier League rivals.
After announcing record financial revenue for the 2023/24 season (£616.6 million) and not spending much in the 2024 summer window, they should be in a financially strong position to make one big signing soon.
Liverpool
With that being said, Mikel Arteta’s side isn’t the only one strongly pursuing Isak’s services. The I Paper has reported that Liverpool genuinely have an interest in signing the Newcastle United centre-forward.
The Reds might need an emphatic new attacking player next season.
Mohamed Salah is yet to sign a new contract and his deal expires at the end of June (2025). If Salah leaves, then Isak could be roped in as the player to take up the majority of the goal contribution burden. Even if the Egyptian winger stays on, the Swedish striker might be the perfect last piece of the puzzle to create a formidable attacking front.
Liverpool could generate the necessary money needed for Isak’s signing from selling players. They are reportedly looking to sell Darwin Nunez in the summer window. This is after they were rumoured to have rejected a £70 million offer for the Uruguayan forward in the recent January transfer window.
But if Liverpool can sell their striker for that kind of amount, they can get a major boost in the Alexander Isak race. Luis Diaz is also being linked to a possible summer switch to FC Barcelona, and that can help the Reds add more money to their summer transfer war chest. Liverpool are also reportedly considering adding Darwin Nunez in a player swap+cash deal to tempt Newcastle into selling Isak next summer.
Option number 3: Barcelona
Barcelona are also big admirers of the 25-year-old and considers him a top striker target, claims Spanish outlet, Sport. The Blaugrana only signed Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig in the 2024 summer window. However, their financial conditions have improved. They recently sold the VIP seats of the new Camp Nou for a reported £82.7 million.
The Blaugrana have a history of spending crazy money for Premier League players. They signed Philippe Coutinho in a £142 million deal in 2018. As long as they can generate more revenue in the coming months, the Blaugrana are daring enough to splurge big money on the signing of Isak.
They are aware of how the Swedish forward can be the ideal successor of Robert Lewandowski and create a perfect partnership with Lamine Yamal and Raphinha. Newcastle United might’ve slapped an insane price on Isak, but the speculation is unlikely to be dialled down.
The 25-year-old claimed in an interview in 2024 that he came to Newcastle United ‘for the project’ and wants to be there for the long term. Privately, he must also realize the needs to join a major European club to raise his hopes of winning major accolades, but only time will tell if he really pushes to leave St.James Park for a blockbuster transfer in the foreseeable future.
