Alexander Isak to Liverpool swap transfer plan takes a blow as £65m deal nearly done

Luis Diaz's imminent move from Liverpool to Bayern Munich looks to have thwarted any potential swap deal for Alexander Isak. Diaz, 28, looks set to move to Bavaria, after Vincent Kompany's side agreed a £65.5million deal for the Colombian.

The reigning Premier League champions have been active buyers in the transfer market this summer, but Diaz's exit would be a substantial sale. Liverpool's spending approached the £300m mark after they wrapped up a £79m move for Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt.

That figure could still rise further after Isak told Newcastle he wanted toexplore a move away from St James' Park, with Arne Slot's side at the front of the queue. However, Diaz's exit may put an end to recent suggestions that Newcastle could request Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez as part of a potential swap transfer for Isak.

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Recent reports from German outletBild claimed the Magpies were considering a move for Nunez after the Reds beat them to the signature of Ekitike. The Frenchman's arrival looks to have pushed their former record signing out of Slot's first-choice eleven.

With Newcastle looking for a striker and Isak seemingly looking for the exit door, a potential swap deal that would have seen the Swede and the former Benfica ace switch clubs appeared to be a possibility. However, with Diaz now departing the club, any faint chance of this deal taking place looks to be over.

Newcastle have also turned their attention to RB Leipzig forward Benjamin Sesko, who is valued between £60m and £70m. The young Slovenian had been linked with a move to Arsenal, but the Gunners ended their interest to sign Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting Lisbon instead.

Meanwhile, Nunez is currently nursing a minor injury picked up on pre-season. The Uruguayan did not feature in the Reds' pre-season clash against AC Milan, as Slot did not want to risk aggravating it.

The Dutchman has also been impressed with how the 26-year-old has performed this summer. Slot said: "In Darwin’s situation, he has trained really well and played a few good games for us already this pre-season. He was injured so we didn’t want to take the risk.

"It was also the same with Wata (Endo) — trained with us all week but we didn’t want to take a risk with him either. It is part of pre-season, the boys need to get towards match fitness and that is a thin balance, a thin line sometimes.

"In this situation we thought it was smarter for Darwin and Wata to sit it out today but I assume they will be with us when we are in Japan for the next game.”

Nunez had been linked with a move to Napoli, but the Italian champions' recent signing of Udinese forward Lorenzo Lucca seemingly put an end to those rumours. Nevertheless, Liverpool are still understood to be interested in Isak, who is believed to have a price-tag of around £150m on his head.

The Reds broke the Premier League transfer record to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for £116m, but if they want Isak, they will have to surpass that figure significantly. If they met Newcastle's huge valuation, their spending would reach as high as £450m.

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