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Liverpool are still hoping that Newcastle will allow Alexander Isak to join but things are starting to get messy.

The Reds find themselves in the middle of yet another transfer saga, but this time they are the ones attempting to sign the player rather than risk losing them.

Isak has made his feelings very clear and has decided to down tools in the hope that he will be let go and sold to Anfield, something that the Magpies simply will not allow.

The Swede finally spoke out publicly and his honest admission was met with a stern response from Newcastle themselves, with his parent club insisting he is not for sale unless their conditions are met.

Of course, this has angered Newcastle fans even further and Alan Shearer is one who is very disappointed, although Reds fans have been quick to point out the very different reaction he is showing with Isak compared to the view he had on Trent Alexander-Arnold.

However, the Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer has insisted that these two circumstances are very different, hence why he has conflicting views.

Photo by George Wood/Getty Images

When Alexander-Arnold was clearly running down his contract despite not going public until the very end, Reds fans were left fuming at him, and rightly so.

A boyhood Red had decided that his club was not enough for him and wanted to look elsewhere, doing so without providing Liverpool with a monstrous transfer fee that his talent deserves.

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Shearer, however, always defended the scouser, making Reds fans question why he is so annoyed at what Isak is now doing, although the former striker insists that there is an obvious reason why they are different.

“What a stupid question that is, you can’t compare them at all,” Shearer said on The Rest is Football podcast when asked why his stance is now different.

“Trent was a kid who was brought up in Liverpool, he came to the end of his contract, didn’t refuse to play, didn’t refuse to train and was then well within his rights to leave.

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“Now Isak’s got three years left on his contract, it doesn’t take a genius to work that out does it?

“I sat down with Alex five or six months ago and I didn’t see this in him.

But these two are totally different circumstances.”

Despite everything that has gone on and Isak insisting he will never play for Newcastle again, it still feels like the Swede will have to stay at the club this summer.

The Magpies were strong in their statement and insisted he will not be sold until their conditions have been met, with these being a suitable transfer fee, but first, finding two replacements.

But with less than two weeks left of the transfer window, finding two other players who are up to the quality required for Newcastle seems near-impossible, suggesting that Isak will be forced to stay.

Whether he plays again or not is another matter and the Reds could always return in January, but keeping a player worth over £110m who will never play again would seem rather unwise.
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