Could Alexander Isak Be Next In At Liverpool After Hugo Ekitike Transfer?

Liverpool FC completed the transfer of Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday, and reports hint that this signing will not be the last by the Premier League champions in this summer’s transfer window.

Liverpool beat Newcastle United and Manchester United to Ekitike’s signature, and they might yet approach Newcastle with an offer for their own in-demand star striker, Alexander Isak.

Ekitike had been linked with a move to the Premier League throughout the summer, and Eintracht Frankfurt confirmed on Wednesday that the player had chosen Liverpool, where he has signed a six-year contract.

Liverpool will pay Frankfurt an initial $94 million, but the eventual fee will be closer to $109 million as it includes around $15 million worth of add-ons. The fee in pounds sterling has been reported across the English media as £69 million, potentially rising to £79 million.

The Merseyside club announced the move on Wednesday, confirming the completion of a medical. Ekitike then joined the rest of the Liverpool team for training in Hong Kong on Thursday ahead of a friendly against AC Milan on Saturday as part of their pre-season tour of Asia.

The transfer takes Liverpool’s spending on new players this summer over the $400 million mark as Ekitike joins Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez, Florian Wirtz, and Giorgi Mamardashvili as the club’s major new arrivals in 2025.

And Liverpool is not done yet. Attention has now turned to Newcastle’s Isak, with the Times of London reporting that the club is still interested in the Swedish striker.

Ekitike was initially considered an alternative to Isak, who Liverpool has so far been unable to prise away from Newcastle, but this week’s signing has not deterred Liverpool’s recruitment team from pursuing further transfer targets, including Isak.

On Thursday, it was reported by the Daily Mail that Isak has indicated he wants to leave Newcastle this summer, which has only increased the noise and anticipation around a possible transfer to Liverpool.

Though Liverpool has been busy in the market all summer, the club is reaching a crucial point in the window. The rumoured sale of Luis Díaz to Bayern Munich and the future of striker Darwin Núñez will also be decided in the coming weeks before the season begins with the Community Shield match against Crystal Palace on August 10.

Questions have been asked as to how Liverpool have been able to afford such a summer spending spree, but having spent next to nothing in the two previous transfer windows, and boasting healthy balance sheets that give them plenty of room to work within various financial fair play limits, if the club has the cash available, it has the scope to make such transfers.

When it comes to the club’s accounts, the transfer fees for these players will also be amortized across the length of their respective contracts, which, in the case of the players concerned, span five years, or six in Ekitike’s case.

While sales will contribute to the balancing of the books, they haven’t necessarily been required so far, with Liverpool boasting plenty of wiggle room due to past frugality.

Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, has often been criticised for its perceived unwillingness to splash the cash in the transfer market, and match other big Premier League spenders such as Chelsea and Manchester City, but every now and then this approach pays off, and it is able to spend big for what it believes are the right players in the right moments.

Even though Liverpool is not averse to spending big on the right players at the right time, signing so many players in this manner in one transfer window would still be unusual.

Signing numerous new players in one go can also risk unsettling a team, but Liverpool will believe that the quality of these players is such that they can be integrated quickly and seamlessly into the squad.

Even if Isak arrives, the club might still look to do even more business, with the center of defence possibly requiring reinforcements after the sale of Jarrell Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen, which itself brought Liverpool an extremely useful $40 million transfer fee.

Many Liverpool supporters have long craved a big-spending, headline-grabbing transfer window, but even they might still be surprised as to the extent of this summer’s spending, having got their wish in a way they might never have imagined.

Isak next? Normally, it might be suggested that Ekitike is enough and Liverpool might turn its attention to other areas of the team, but it appears that there are no limits to Liverpool’s spending this summer.