21 hours ago
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TV anchor Richard Keys has defended Alexander Isak over his decision to leave Newcastle for Liverpool.
Isak finally secured the move he had been craving all summer last week, as he joined the Reds for a Premier League record fee on deadline day. The Swede said during his interview with club media after joining Liverpool that he was motivated by winning trophies with the Merseyside club.
“It’s a mixture of what the club is building, but what they’re building on top of what the club already is. The history of the club,” Isak told Liverpoolfc.com, when asked why he wanted to join Liverpool.
“Me getting the chance to be a part of this, I want to create history. I want to win trophies. That’s ultimately the biggest motivation for me, and I feel like this is the perfect place for me to grow even further and to take my game to the next level and help the team as well.
“I feel like this is the next step for me in my career. I’m super-happy that I’ve been given this chance and I’m very motivated to do something well with it.”
Isak's decision was questioned by former Newcastle player Nobby Solano in an interview with Chronicle Live, as the Magpies cult hero said that the Swede spurned the chance to become "a god" with the Magpies by moving to Liverpool.
"Alex could have had it all - even Alan Shearer's crown as the club's record scorer!" Solano said. "It's not a good look for Alex, and when things settle down, he will realize why Newcastle's faithful fans feel insulted by his actions, and that's what refusing to play is, insulting to the paying Geordie public.
"He was welcomed with open arms to the city like I was, and many others, so I can see why fans are disappointed. At 25 and with three years left on his deal, I think he could have got close to that because Newcastle would have given him a job for life.
"The No. 9 shirt was vacant and would have been his to take at Newcastle. Alex has looked after himself really and not the club or the fans.
Solano added: "He's made his own decision and he has looked at the financial side of it and his future when he stops playing. But he has tarnished his football legacy at Newcastle, make no doubt about that.
"It depends on his ambitions. Alan Shearer was the local lad living his dream, and that's why he turned down Man United to play for his boyhood team.
"People loved him for it. But Alex obviously didn't want it. Once the big money was talked about and his agent got involved, it felt like Alex was 100 percent ready to go."
Ex-Sky Sports man Richards, though, does not agree with Solano's take. Sharing a picture of Solano's interview from a newspaper, which carried the headline 'It's Shear Madness,' Keys wrote: "I’ll tell you what’s Shear madness - this view.
"Does Solano really believe chasing Shearer’s record is a better career goal than a bucket full of medals? Nonsense."
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