Exclusive: Liverpool can afford mega-transfer for Newcastle’s Isak – finance expert
Liverpool have no issues financing a deal for Newcastle star Alexander Isak despite huge spending already this summer.
That is the opinion of football finance expert Dan Plumley, who told exclusively told Football Insider that the decision on the Swedish striker’s future would ultimately fall into the Magpies’ hands.
Mohamed Salah’s monumental 2024/25 season not only led Liverpool to the Premier League title, but it also covered up the goal-scoring ineptitude of Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota.
Whilst the Egyptian scored a breath-taking 29 goals for the Reds, the Uruguayan and Portuguese forwards found the back of the net just 11 times between them.
Nunez is expected to leave the club for Saudi Arabia this summer, whilst the 24/25 campaign looks destined to be Jota’s last for Liverpool.
Liverpool can afford to sign Alexander Isak
With Arne Slot in need of a new striker, Alexander Isak has been touted for a move to Liverpool, but Newcastle’s £150million asking price seems near-insurmountable.
However, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, finance expert Plumley explained that the Reds can afford to sign the ex-Real Sociedad man, it would just come down to whether they could convince Newcastle to sell.
He said: “I think in terms of affordability, yes, you know, there’s the context of what the club is prepared to spend and £300m is a huge figure, isn’t it, which you have to be mindful of because we’re not in the realm anymore of unlimited pots of money to spend on transfer fees, because there are regulations you have got to work within.
“But if you look at Liverpool, and again, we’re looking at numbers here on PSR calculations that are already a season out and they’ve just won the Premier League.
“They’ll bank the Champions League money from this year and they’ll bank that again next year.
“In terms of, could they afford Isak? Yes.
“I know they’ve done a deal for [Florian] Wirtz and [Jeremie] Frimpong, but if [Jarell] Quansah goes the other way, and you’ve got Trent Alexander Arnold off the books, and they’ve managed to get an unbelievable fee to let him go early.
“So all those little things then kind of come into the mix and they didn’t spend anything last summer at all, they had net spend figure of something like £0.1m, so Isak is affordable for Liverpool, ultimately.
“The question mark is, are Newcastle likely to sell? Probably not.
“That’s going to be a hard bargaining conversation and attached to that, that means the fee’s going to go up and it’ll be more of a case of what’s Liverpool’s ceiling on what they’re prepared to pay for that player, because Newcastle will stretch that out for sure.
“I think affordability, yes, the question mark for me would be, what’s the fee and the negotiation and how much Liverpool wants that player.”
Liverpool transfer dealings showing no signs of slowing with Marc Guehi up next
Whilst Isak’s deal will likely take some time before we reach a resolution, Pete O’Rourke revealed to Football Insider that Liverpool are interested in signing Marc Guehi.
Few can afford to sign Newcastle’s Swedish striker, but with a year remaining on the Crystal Palace captain’s contract, the defender is an affordable option for most top sides.
As such, Liverpool will likely need to act quickly to get a deal for Guehi over the line.
Elsewhere at Anfield, Dr Rajpal Brar gave his assessment to Liverpool News about Reds target Nick Woltemade.