Former Newcastle captain Alan Shearer believes wantaway striker Alexander Isak has poured “flames on the fire” of his stand-off with the Magpies by accusing the club of breaking promises, and said his comments “don’t benefit anyone”.

More speculation has been caused by Isak’s likely decision to snub the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) awards gala on Tuesday. BBC Sport claim that the 25-year-old forward, who is one of six nominees for the marquee Players’ Player of the Year gong, is not expected to attend the ceremony which will be held at the Manchester Opera House.

Names like Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz have already been linked to Liverpool, with Wirtz being roped in to fill the void of Diogo Jota. On the other hand, Luis Diaz has now joined Bayern Munich, and Darwin Nunez has moved to Al-Hilal, which has earned Liverpool a huge amount of money.