As rumours over Alexander Isak’s future rumble on, Newcastle United are reportedly set to be offered the chance to sign an £85m replacement who shocked St James’ Park last season.
Newcastle transfer news
The Magpies have found themselves limited in the transfer market across the last two windows, but could now burst into life when the summer arrives. If Isak does depart for big money then those in Tyneside will finally find themselves unlocked from the PSR cage that they’ve found themselves, albeit at the cost of their star striker.
It’s money that Eddie Howe has needed for the last two windows, with his strongest 11 simply unable to compete against a chasing pack full of the squad depth they simply do not have.
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His team won at St James’ Park earlier this season.
Even up against the injury-riddled Manchester City last time out, Newcastle felt the full effect of another side’s spending power, with January arrival Omar Marmoush netting a stunning first-half hat-trick. City spent the money that Newcastle couldn’t last month and reaped the rewards last weekend.
Whether they’ll even be tempted to sell Isak when the summer arrives is another story, but that won’t stop the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool from reportedly chasing the forward when the window opens.
According to Football Insider, Newcastle are set to be offered the chance to sign Darwin Nunez in a swap deal for Isak, which would see the Swede head to Anfield this summer with some cash coming to Tyneside to sweeten the deal.
A player Liverpool splashed out £85m to sign in 2022, Nunez has struggled to ever truly pay that fee back in the form of goals and now finds himself falling down the pecking order under Arne Slot. As the Reds look to solve their striker problem, he could be used as quite the bargaining chip.
Whether Newcastle see it that way remains to be seen, however. Whilst they’d be getting an instant replacement for Isak, there’s still plenty of question marks over Nunez’s reliability in front of goal.
“Wonderful” Nunez must find consistency
On the fringes of the Premier League’s top four, Newcastle can ill-afford to take a gamble and that’s exactly what Nunez would be. At his very best, the Liverpool forward has all the attributes of a top striker.
He’s lightning quick, his movement is sharp and his work out of possession is key. But it’s not often that the Premier League has seen that best form for prolonged periods of time. Meanwhile, out of form, Nunez is wasteful, scrappy and unreliable – everything that Isak is not.
St James’ Park has already seen him at his clinical, quick best last season when he netted a shock brace to hand Liverpool a late victory but he has not kicked on from that performance ever since in frustrating fashion.
When the summer arrives, Newcastle will certainly have plenty to think about and that could yet include a decision regarding the arrival of Nunez.
