Libero 046: Alexander Isak v Newcastle: A Player Power Battle

Libero

Sports, Soccer, Society & Culture

4.9 • 867 Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The biggest story of this summer’s transfer window is Alexander Isak. The Newcastle United striker is so desperate for a move that he has not been training with Newcastle United, and on Tuesday night he finally went public about his desire to leave. On today’s Libero, Jonathan Wilson, Rory Smith and Jack Pitt-Brooke try to get to the bottom of the story of the summer. How outraged should we be by Isak’s conduct? Is he ‘on strike’, insulting the fans, or is he just playing one of the few cards available to him? This summer has shown how clubs treat players, whether Manchester United with their bomb squad, or Nottingham Forest denying Morgan Gibbs-White a move to Tottenham. So in that context does it make sense for a player to try to force his way out? And how can players claw back any power in the marketplace? Is the only route for them to stop signing long-term contracts when they are at the moment of maximum leverage? P1: (00:36) P2: (38:08) Produced by: Tom Bassam Email in via liberopodcast0@gmail.com Follow us on X @podcast_libero Follow us on Bluesky @liberopodcast.bsky.social Follow us on Instagram @liberopod Subscribe to our YouTube channel @liberopod Music: Kid Kodi - Blue Dot Sessions Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Libero, the podcast about the most important of the least important thing, as
0:06.6	Freddie Shepard once said.
0:08.3	My name is Jack Pitbrook.
0:09.3	I'm from The Athletic.
0:10.1	I'm joined today by Rory Smith from The Observer and Jonathan Wilson.
0:13.8	Now, before I say hello to them, I'd like to say hello to you, the listener and the viewer.
0:18.0	Thank you for all your support so far.
0:19.5	And I just wanted to ask if you
0:21.0	have the time to rate or review us on Spotify or Apple, or if you're watching on YouTube,
0:26.0	if you could just smash those like and subscribe buttons, that would be very much appreciated
0:30.0	by everybody here at Libro Towers.
0:37.0	Now, Rory and Jonathan, you were both the Anfield on Friday.
0:40.8	How were you sat together, Rory?
0:42.8	We weren't.
0:43.9	Wilson was one row in front of me because he is more important.
0:48.3	But I was able to point out to you the apparent offender in the Semino incident.
0:53.4	I clocked it very quickly.
0:56.0	You did. It was like watching Wilson,
0:57.6	one of the damn preeminent historians
1:00.2	suddenly develop a news itch.
1:02.9	And when there were three police officers
1:04.4	pointing at,
	...

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