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Wolverhampton Wanderers has rejected a transfer bid worth around $68 million (£50 million) from Newcastle United for the Norwegian striker Jorgen Strand Larsen.
Liverpool retains an interest in Alexander Isak, of course, with the Reds set to take on Newcastle at St James' Park later Monday. But a public statement from the North East club last week suggested the conditions it required for the sale of the Swede would not be met before the transfer deadline, which comes in just seven days.
In part, those conditions are likely to include Newcastle signing a suitable replacement for Isak, which has so far proven impossible. The likes of Hugo Ekitike and Joao Pedro have chosen to move elsewhere.
According to the Daily Mail, Wolves view the $68M offer for Strand Larsen as too small. It also believes that Newcastle would be unable to present a large enough bid to prove tempting before Sept. 1.
It remains to be seen whether or not Newcastle will go back in with a second offer for Strand Larsen. The club has also been chasing Brentford forward Yoane Wissa, so far unsuccessfully.
"I don’t think the club will allow that situation to happen," Eddie Howe said when asked about the prospect of not bringing in at least one more attacker before the window closes.
"We certainly can’t go through the season with no recognized striker at the football club — and that’s no disrespect to Will Osula.
"I think he’s doing really well and he’s progressing really well, but he’s got limited experience in the Premier League, although I’m really happy with his career progression.
"But Alex at the moment would be the only striker we have with Premier League history of goals and appearances and starts, so we can’t leave ourselves in that position."
Anthony Gordon filled in at number nine last weekend against Aston Villa, and the England ace is expected to play there again when Newcastle hosts Liverpool today.
"He’s an attacker and he’s a very good attacker," Howe said. "The beauty of Anthony when we signed him was he can play right, left and potentially down the middle, something that he has done before.
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"He’s done it for England, so it’s not something totally new to him. I don’t think anyone can fill Alex’s boots and Anthony will know that himself. He’s not trying to be Alex, he’s got to be himself.
"I think if he’d scored against Aston Villa, you’d go, ‘that’s the perfect number nine performance’. I think he had seven shots in the game, he looked a threat, he got a man sent off.
"He was using his qualities, which are his pace and his dribbling skills, so I thought it was a really good performance from him. Yes, of course we were missing the goal from the team’s overall performance, but hopefully those will come."
Liverpool.com says: Things are going to go down to the wire this summer in the market, with only a week left remaining in the window. The clock is very much ticking, with plenty of clubs still having work to get done.
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