There's no winner in this summer's Isak transfer saga

The great transfer saga of summer 2025 looks to be coming to an end, but there's rarely any winners in these stories.

With the clock ticking towards the transfer window slamming shut, it looks like a resolution to the Alexander Isak transfer saga is in sight. With Newcastle seemingly in line to land German forward Nick Woltemade, this opens the door for the Swede to finally get his wish and swap St. James’ Park for Anfield.

A story that lasted the entire summer, from an initial rumour that Liverpool were somewhat interested in signing the player, to one that grew into a full blown war between Isak and his club, all the while Liverpool sat patiently in the long grass for their target and selling club to get their houses in order ahead of an inevitable transfer.

As summer transfer sagas go, it’s been one of the more uglier examples. Isak isn’t the first player to seek a move up the football food chain to a “bigger” club, but how it’s transpired with Newcastle has left a lot of bad blood between both parties, as he leaves the Magpies less a hero who helped them into Champions League football and more a Judas hate figure who will never be fondly remembered in the north east.

And as summer transfer sagas go, it’s just been one of the more mind numbingly boring. There have been no winners - not Newcastle, who failed to adequately prepare for an Isak sale, despite given plenty of advance notice. Not Isak - or his “team” - who went scorched earth on the entire situation, refusing to return to training with the club, essentially going on strike until a resolution was found, immediately alienating him from the club who adored him until now.

And certainly not us, subjected to the endless drip-feed of “updates” from the transfer-industrial complex. The transfer saga dementors that shill every EXCLUSIVE, BREAKING, TUNE IN AT 10PM FOR A HUGE UPDATE. It’s been the summer of hanging onto every word of David Ornstein and Paul Joyce, as Liverpool and their Premier League colleagues spend at an unprecedented rate, with almost every mooted transfer rumour coming to fruition.

It’s been the summer of Indy Kaila, a once lighthearted Twitter In-The-Know and figure of football comedy, becoming an established rumour mill churner, gaining authority from the aforementioned Ornstein and others as his stories seemingly became more accurate and trustworthy than not, suggesting the account has passed hands to more connected figures in the football transfer quagmire. A bizarre development, almost like Alan Partridge being handed the keys to Match of the Day.

It’s been a summer of non-update updates. Social media posts that proffer absolutely nothing of substance beyond a few more thousand quote tweets and extending the speculation machine for another day or two. Newcastle are BRACING themselves for a second Liverpool bid. Isak is still PUSHING for Liverpool. Cool, very good to know.

The social media transfer machine that has seen “Here We Go” become canonised in the Oxford dictionary and David Ornstein become a verb, where transfer updates by standard are prefixed with siren emojis, has fed the masses of football fans who I’ve long been convinced are more concerned about transfers, net spend and the instant gratification of transfer confirmations, a hit of dopamine to react and hot take to, after weeks of speculating on the very same transfer.

Transfers aren’t simply news or high level speculation resigned to gossip columns on corners of ad-laden football blogs, they’re now big business, theatre and content to be consumed and refreshed, a hit of dopamine on demand.

I often refer back to this excellent piece by Dean Van Nguyen, specifically on the mind of the unhealthily online Liverpool fan, but a theory that can easily be extended across football and fans in general.

The first thing you must understand about these fans is that transfers are the barometer by which they believe all footballing achievement must be gauged.

There’s winning the window, which Liverpool have undoubtedly done this summer, but the irony is they crave and clamour for more.

Rather than see a player like Rio Ngumoha flourish and have space to grow into his role, transfer sleuths wonder if Malick Fofana can be extracted from Lyon. Rather than seeing if Giovanni Leoni could be the answer at centre back or if the generally solid Ibrahima Konate can get over his slow start to the season, Marc Guehi must simply be signed.

Harvey Elliott, an otherwise popular and productive member of the squad, is shilled to Tottenham and Crystal Palace, his prospective transfer fee weighted into the net spend formula.

And yet, despite all the noise, transfer sagas are just desperately boring. They last too long, repeat themselves endlessly, and almost always end with a bit of a shrug. Alexander Isak may well sign for Liverpool this weekend, but after a summer of such nonsense it’s really hard to be too enamoured by the whole situation. Liverpool get their man, Indy Kaila will have been right all along, but until he actually gets on the field and connects with Mo Salah and company, it’s an entire story of make-believe.

Looking back at the initial Virgil Van Dijk to Liverpool saga, Cristiano Ronaldo’s eventual move to Madrid, the multi-window Jadon Sancho to Manchester United feed - they were all exhausting, repetitive, and eventually resolved in the most functional way possible, by the player joining for the club they wanted to join all along. The content machine thrived for those months. In hindsight, the saga part is forgettable. The football is what endures - the transfer either worked out or it didn’t.

So if and when Isak finally signs, the story of the summer will evaporate within a few days. All a blur, with no winners - not until the reality of the actual transfer plays out on the field. Another saga concluded, but not without us having to endure the utter nonsense of it all. The saga itself? Until next summer, just more white noise in the endless stream of transfer rubbish.