Newcastle favourite slams Liverpool over £125m Alexander Isak transfer – ‘A complete d***’
Former Newcastle United midfielder Nicky Butt slams Alexander Isak and Liverpool’s decision to pay £125m for the striker
14:26, 29 Nov 2025
Stephen Warnock has claimed Alexander Isak is this season’s most underwhelming player(Image: Getty Images)
Former Newcastle United midfielder Nicky Butt has branded Alexander Isak’s price tag as “ridiculous” and criticised Liverpool’s decision to bring the £125m striker to Anfield in September.
And the ex-Magpies man believes the nature of Isak’s acrimonious departure from Tyneside is proof that the Sweden international may have upset the apple cart on Merseyside, as the Reds aim to end a run of nine defeats from 12 when they take on West Ham United on Sunday.
Isak moved to Liverpool on transfer deadline day when the two clubs agreed a British-record deal after the frontman had publicly agitated for weeks about his desire to leave St James’ Park.
OPINION
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After being banished from pre-season training by manager Eddie Howe, Isak arrived at his new club without the benefit of a summer schedule behind him and has struggled to get up to speed as a result.
Butt was scathing in his assessment of Isak’s controversial exit, saying the player’s actions look like they have unsettled the dressing room at Anfield.
“I still think the Isak one, even though he did really well at Newcastle, I think the price tag for him was ridiculous,” Butt told the Good, the Bad and the Football podcast. “The circumstances were ridiculous and I do think when you bring people into a squad, if you upset the apple cart if you like, that squad had just won the league.
“If you bring a player in for that much money who has just kicked up such a fuss to leave a club that looked after him and, let’s be honest, gave him a chance, that is alarm bells ringing for me.
“I don’t care what anybody says and I understand why the lad wanted to leave Newcastle because Liverpool had just won the league but that is alarm bells ringing for me.
“I am telling you now if you start messing about with a squad’s dynamic that has done so well the year before then you are asking for trouble. I know it is easy to sit here and say it in the aftermath but with Isak and the circumstances around it all, it is just never going to work.”
Butt, who played for Newcastle between 2004 and 2010, added: “I might sit here in nine months’ time and look like an absolute d*** for saying that if he goes and scores a load of goals, and I am sure he is very capable of doing that.
“But I am telling you now, if you have got a proper squad built where you have each other’s back, that squad will be tight. You won’t all be best mates but when you affect a squad and affect it in a really dodgy way, in my opinion, you are asking for trouble.
Former Newcastle and Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt has spoken out on Liverpool’s decision to sign Alexander Isak for £125m
“If I was sat in the changing room with a player who is a seven or eight out of 10 every week but a great lad I would rather have him in my team than someone who is a superstar and is nine out of 10 every week but is a complete d***.
“By the way, I am not saying Isak is a d***, I don’t know his personality but there were certain dynamics around that transfer that just wasn’t right.
“I have spoken to a few of the older (former) Liverpool players and they have said the same. After what has been said you wouldn’t want to welcome him into your squad. No chance.”
