Newcastle 'would've made extra $73M' by selling Alexander Isak to different team
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Liverpool eventually managed to break Newcastle’s resolve to sign Alexander Isak for a record fee, although one football finance expert believes the Magpies missed out on making even more money from the striker.
After weeks of speculation, and a transfer saga that threatened to spiral out of control, Isak finally got his wish when he completed a $169 million move to Anfield on deadline day.
Liverpool had to bide its time, having previously had a bid turned down for the striker as Newcastle stood firm on its stance that Isak was not for sale.
The move was eventually given the green light after Newcastle finally found a replacement in the form of Nick Woltemade during the final days of the window, with Yoane Wissa also arriving on deadline day to further bolster Eddie Howe’s forward options.
Newcastle eventually settled a fee with Liverpool, which ended up being lower than what had been touted earlier in the window - and one expert feels there might have been another solution which would have seen the Magpies earn more money.
Speaking to Flashscore, who provide the latest sport betting apps, Dr Rob Wilson has suggested selling Isak to a club in Saudi Arabia would have enabled Newcastle to make around $73M more on Isak’s sale - although it would have presented its own problems, given the club’s owners.
Newcastle United chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan
“It would have been challenged had that happened,” Dr Wilson said.
“If you remember back a couple of seasons ago when Chelsea were trying to offload a load of their players to Saudi, no one was really talking about it at the time but the PIF actually have a stake in Clearlake, the fund that own Chelsea.
“It's a non-disclosed stake of about 8.5% so there’s no direct influence officially but those numbers start to get challenged by those who look after PSR and FFP compliance because it's got to be of requisite market value.
“Newcastle came out and clearly said Isak is £150M ($201M) so if it was a Saudi club and they needed to pay a premium of say £170-180M ($228-242M), I think you'd get away with that, but £250M ($336M) would be too much.”
Liverpool.com says: You can almost guarantee that a move to Saudi Arabia for Isak would not have gone through smoothly
Obviously, Newcastle’s owners effectively selling the club’s best player to themselves would have looked more than a bit fishy.
What’s more, there would have surely been no chance of Isak accepting a move to the Middle East