Newcastle star striker Alexander Isak has now become a bona fide superstar in the Premier League this season, and with 19 goals and 5 assists for the Magpies, there are even some who believe that the Swedish international has overtaken Erling Haaland as the best No. 9 in the English top flight.
Isak will command a gargantuan fee well above 100 million pounds in the summer 2025 transfer window, if he even moves at all. But if there’s ever a chance of the Champions League-aspiring Newcastle Magpies to sell Isak this year, here are four teams that will be involved in the sweepstakes.
Each team is rated on the overall fit, likelihood of a transfer, and what they can offer Isak.
Liverpool
Liverpool have been the best team in the Premier League this season, bar none, owning a 15-point lead over second-placed Arsenal in the table. They have a high-priced striker of their own, but with Darwin Nunez still struggling to consistently find the back of the net for the Reds (just five goals and almost double as many bench appearances as starts), 2025 is the time to move on from the former Benfica man.
Isak would be a dream replacement for Nunez, and you can only imagine how lethal the Liverpool attack would be with Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai, Isak, and, of course, Mohamed Salah in the lineup.
Rating: 8.5/10
Barcelona
Barcelona will always carry more cachet than any of the clubs in the Premier League for its history. After all, Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, Luis Figo, Ronaldo Nazario, Johan Cruyff, and Samuel Eto’o were once associated with this club.
Alexander Isak is very familiar with the Spanish league, having starred for Real Sociedad before moving to Newcastle, and he probably has some hatred for Real Madrid since they snubbed him as a prospect at Dortmund – and then he blew them out of the water in the Copa del Rey about five years back.
Barcelona currently have one of the three best No. 9’s in the world in Robert Lewandowski, but he’s actually the least impressive of the current Blaugrana front three and is 36 years old.
The issue is Barcelona don’t have all that much money to pay both Newcastle and Isak, and then he’d probably have to split time with Lewandowski, at least initially, because the Polish international isn’t going anywhere until his contract runs out in 2026 since he makes well over 30 million euros per season.
Rating: 5.0/10
Arsenal
Arsenal are in the most desperate need of a No. 9 of any team on this list, including Liverpool, because they don’t really even have a real striker. Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz are honestly better goal-scorers than Darwin Nunez, but Liverpool have Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo to take care of the goals.
Right now, the Gunners’ best scorer is either Havertz or Bukayo Saka, and both of them have been injured for much of the 2024/25 season. Arsenal should have signed a striker last year, but they didn’t and are now well and truly out of the title race.
So Arsenal have to sign a striker this summer, and while the smart money is on them going for a more budget-friendly signing like, say, Benjamin Sesko, they should have the funds to go after Isak.
While Arsenal are better than Newcastle, are they really all that much better from a sporting perspective if Saudi Arabia continues to invest in the Magpies? That’s the only thing counting against the Gunners.
Rating: 8.5/10
Chelsea
If you rank the best strikers in the Premier League right now, Nicolas Jackson probably comes in at third behind some combination of Haaland and Isak, so Chelsea have the least need for a striker of any team on this list, including Barcelona, since Jackson is still only 23 years old.
Jackson is a very good all-around striker and has improved significantly this season with nine goals and five assists, but the goals still dwarf Isak’s output, as the Swede has more than double Jackson’s tally.
Chelsea are more likely to go with a cheaper option like Sesko, and they could even stand pat at striker and instead build elsewhere. But if Chelsea really do want to compete for the title next season, perhaps Isak is the free-scoring forward they need in front of Cole Palmer to finish the project. And lord knows, they are never afraid to spend, unlike their London counterparts to the north.
Rating: 7.5/10
Joe Soriano covers West Ham for Green Street Hammers and writes about Real Madrid for The Real Champs. He has extensive experience covering world football since 2014. Joe is an editor for The Trivela Effect, where he covers the biggest clubs in European football. He has watched professional sports regularly since 2002 and can be found playing the same sports he covers with his friends.