‘Sickening’ Newcastle star ‘will get his Liverpool move’ as Isak tells team-mates ‘you aren’t good enough’
Former Newcastle United midfielder Nicky Butt has hit out at Alexander Isak over his treatment of the Magpies fans and his fellow team-mates amid Liverpool interest.
The Reds have already spent lots of money this summer on Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong after providing Arne Slot just the signing of Federico Chiesa a year ago.
But Liverpool aren’t done with Parma centre-back Giovanni Leoni flying in to Merseyside for his medical on Thursday before completing a move worth €35m.
Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi is still a player they want, while Liverpool are likely to bid again for Newcastle striker Isak after having a £110m offer rejected earlier this month.
Isak has made it clear to Newcastle that he wants to move to Anfield this summer with reports claiming that he is refusing to play for the Magpies again, even if he isn’t granted his move to Liverpool this summer.
And former Newcastle midfielder Butt insists Isak’s behaviour is “sickening” with the Sweden international essentially saying to his team-mates “you aren’t good enough for me to play with”.
READ: Liverpool told player-plus-£120m enough to ‘break the logjam’ for Alexander Isak
Butt told BetMGM: “People make mistakes. I seem to remember Wayne Rooney having rumours around him and he stayed and went on to become Manchester United’s record goalscorer – but the way this one [the Isak situation] has gone on, it would have been ‘see you later’.
“When the player is repeatedly saying it – and he has been for two or three weeks now, [Alexander] Isak – it’s just different. It isn’t one quote that he didn’t mean, so he would have been moved on by now.
“I hope that Newcastle do that. They’re an amazing, big football club with an unbelievable fanbase. They’ve given him the platform to become the superstar he is now and changed his and his family’s lives. I think the way he’s behaved is sickening, really, but I do think he will get his move to Liverpool.”
Butt added: “There’s a way of doing it. If you lose the fans, especially at a club like Newcastle, you have a long way to go to get them back on side.
“I had it after we played [Manchester] United in the FA Cup semi-final because of some false rumours that were kicking about. You can win them back, but you could also lose the players in the changing room.
“He’s basically saying ‘you aren’t good enough for me to play with’. You’re with your team-mates more than your own family at this level of football so, if you’ve lost the guy that sits next to you, it’s time to go.
“I saw some of it with [Roy] Keane at Old Trafford and, to an extent, with [Cristiano] Ronaldo but there was a catalyst there for both those moves away.
“With Isak, he’s essentially just said ‘I am going and I want to go to Liverpool’.
“Newcastle probably would have expected this next season, that’s what happened with Ronaldo [to Real Madrid]. You sort of agree to one more year. But you look at the celebrations last season at Newcastle [after the League Cup win] and Eddie Howe will be thinking ‘why?'”
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Butt continued: “It’s really messy. He’s obviously got his reasons but I would hate it… hate that he thought I wasn’t good enough for him to play with me. It wouldn’t happen in the changing rooms that I was in.
“You’d maybe let it go once or twice. But the way this one has gone on is too far. I actually think the senior players, the leadership team, should go to the club and say they don’t want him around. It’s killing the squad; the way he is behaving is so selfish.
“Football is a job sometimes for these lads, no more than that. He’s not from Newcastle, he’s not a Geordie, he’s just thinking about his next move and how he gets to his dream – winning the Champions League or whatever it may be.
“He’s got his reasons but there are ways of going about these things.”
READ: F365’s 2025/26 season predictions: Gyokeres or Mbeumo flop, title split, sack race, Isak Golden Boot
Highlighting the differences Isak will experience at Liverpool, Butt said: “I think he’d do well anywhere, he’s a top player. There’s no getting away from what he did last year but, sometimes, a club doesn’t fit you.
“And there’s the added pressure of Liverpool. The pressure there will be different to Newcastle.
“Everyone was doing so well there [Newcastle] last year, the city was buzzing, he was idolised there. He’s going to Liverpool, they won the league last year, the only way they improve on that is to win the Champions League so, if they don’t, they’ve almost failed.
“When you’re serial winners, if you don’t win the league the next year then you’ve failed.
“There’s an expectation now. He’ll be going into a different dynamic at Liverpool and I hope for his sake he realises he has to up his game. You can’t sit still as a top player – sit still and you’re dead.
“I can 100% see why he’s doing it but it is totally the wrong way. He’s been badly advised but he is a grown man at the end of the day.
“He could always tell the people advising him that he doesn’t want to behave like this – ultimately, his advisors work for him and he has the last say.”
