Stefan Borson drops verdict after Newcastle chief’s plan to avoid Alexander Isak situation revealed
Newcastle United are making a move to secure their star players’ long-term futures following the situation surrounding Alexander Isak’s switch to Liverpool.
Isak joined Liverpool in a £125million deal on 1 September from Newcastle following weeks of intense speculation surrounding his future.
Isak forced through a move to Anfield after refusing to play for Eddie Howe’s side in the opening weeks of the campaign.
The i Paper reported on 14 October Newcastle’s sporting director Ross Wilson will lead an audit of the club’s star players’ contract situations to avoid a repeat of the Isak situation.
It is understood the contract offers to Tino Livramento, Sandro Tonali and Sven Botman could include release clauses.
Ross Wilson planning to implement Newcastle strategy
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider Wilson will have ideas on new policies he wants to implement after making the move to St James’ Park.
Wilson started work at Newcastle last week after a deal was agreed with Nottingham Forest.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider about Newcastle’s release clauses plan, Borson said: “It can make sense and it cannot make sense. You can end up with a release clause is only interesting if it happens to be either attractive to the buying club or generally in the zone of what’s fair market value.
“I mean, there are lots of players in Spain that have release clauses because they have to have release clauses. But they have release clauses that are never going to be exercised.
“It can make it easier. You can avoid some of these situations. You can point to it with a buying club and say, ‘If you want this guy, that’s what it’s going to cost’.”
Newcastle previously inserted a £100m release clause in Bruno Guimaraes’s deal, but it expired in the summer of 2024.
Newcastle plan wouldn’t have prevented Alexander Isak issue
Isak’s transfer was worth around £130m to Newcastle due to the money saved on solidarity payments.
However, Borson doesn’t believe Howe’s side could have received more for the Sweden international if he had a £150m release clause.
“The reality is, even if Isak would have had a £150m release clause, if Liverpool in that scenario said, ‘We’re not paying the release clause’, you’re still in the same situation you were always in with the player,” said Borson.
“The player just says, ‘Well, I still want to go. Liverpool are not paying the £150m, but you need to sell me for £125-130m because I want to go to Liverpool. We’ve had this discussion, I want out’.
“So, I don’t think it fixes the problem particularly. But the new sporting director will have new ideas as to how he wants to implement new policies.”
Isak has scored just one goal in his opening seven games for Liverpool following a difficult start at Anfield.
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