Liverpool have not walked away from a deal for Alexander Isak and will submit a second offer should Newcastle make progress on signing the striker’s replacement.
The Premier League champions had a £110million formal bid rejected on Friday, with subsequent claims from Merseyside that they would not be returning to the table.
However, Mail Sport understands that is not the case and, as Newcastle press ahead with deals for RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko and Brentford’s Yoane Wissa, they anticipate a much-improved approach from the Anfield club.
Liverpool will know they are wasting their time making an offer whilst Newcastle are waiting for a response from Sesko as to his preferred destination, with Manchester United also interested.
Newcastle made a £65.5m offer for the Slovenian on Saturday – totalling £70m in add-ons – but sources say Leipzig will likely wait until the 22-year-old has communicated his own wishes before negotiating with either club.
Meanwhile, there is still confidence that Wissa’s move from Brentford will go through once the London club find their own replacement.
Should the dominoes start to fall, then Liverpool will return with a British record offer for Isak. They have been told it will take closer to £150m for Newcastle to do a deal, but the fact they are pursuing the likes of Sesko would suggest the hierarchy are contemplating the sale of Isak.
The Swede was returning to Tyneside on Saturday after spending last week using the training facilities at former club Real Sociedad as he and his agent try to force a move to Liverpool. Eddie Howe revealed here in Seoul on Saturday that he only knew his player was in Spain through media reports, admitting the situation is ‘far from ideal’. The 25-year-old pulled out of the Far East tour after reporting a thigh injury.
For now, Newcastle see no reason why Isak will not return to training with his team-mates next week, even though it would appear his decision to head to San Sebastián was not sanctioned by his club.
‘I know where he is, really, through the media,’ Howe told Mail Sport. ‘From that perspective, it’s difficult for me to go into any kind of detail. The situation is far from ideal and is quite complex.’
Of Liverpool’s opening offer, Howe said: ‘I was made aware of a bid yesterday (Friday) and that bid was turned down, all before I’d even heard about it.
‘People back in England are dealing with the situation. I don’t know what happens next. From our perceptive, we still support Alex in every way and my wish is that we see him in a Newcastle shirt again.’
There is some sympathy for Isak inside Newcastle, with a feeling he has been badly advised. And when asked if Liverpool had unsettled his star player, Howe said: ‘It’s difficult, because you don’t know what is going to happen from this point.
‘We can only deal with the reality. The reality is we had a first bid from Liverpool and I believe that was turned down. From this point onwards, let’s see what happens.
‘In terms of trying to upset players and all that kind of stuff, from my perspective, we can only talk about our conduct. We try to do things in the right way. Signing players is always complex. We just try to do what we think is right. I can’t talk about other clubs, that’s not for me to say.’
