Philippe Coutinho holds the key to Liverpool signing Alexander Isak

Football transfers often have an imaginary script that fans can use to help anticipate what will happen next.

They all follow a blueprint of sorts and Alexander Isak's situation at Newcastle will be no different.

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Liverpool have been after him all summer, but only recently was it understood that the transfer might actually be possible. The player is said to want to join Liverpool and his actions over the past week suggest that he's essentially handed his transfer request in. He wants out of Eddie Howe's project.

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And the Reds are set to be ready to pounce on any opportunity they get, although a number of complications are currently in their way - one is selling Darwin Nunez and the other is Newcastle's inability to sign a replacement striker; their misfortune in the transfer market has been hilarious to watch.

But is a move definitely off if those two things don't happen? Well, the scriptwriters has had their say.

Isak will leave Newcastle - Philippe Coutinho style

Once a player has decided they would like to move, they will inevitably get their way. They remove themselves from club training and refuse to adhere to the rules that they once greatly respected.

We've seen it with Viktor Gyokeres at Sporting before he joined Arsenal and we're now seeing it with Yohan Wissa at Brentford, with a move to Newcastle in his sights. Isak is doing the very same thing.

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The club are put in a very difficult position and there is no right way to resolve it. Eventually, the easiest thing to do is to remove the toxicity from the situation by giving the player their demands.

This could happen during the remaining few weeks of the summer, or it could happen at a later period, but Isak has well and truly tainted his Newcastle career for good and the fans will struggle to forgive him.

Now of course, the disastrous thing for the Magpies to do would be to sell him without a replacement in mind, and now that David Ornstein has confirmed that Manchester United have made a bid for Benjamin Sesko - which is less than what Newcastle have offered - added to the feeling that the Slovenian favours the Red Devils, their options are running incredibly low, since Joao Pedro and Hugo Ekitike are both now unavailable.

The player still has to decide what his fate will be and there is nothing either club can do about that, it's a personal decision that only Sesko can make, but Newcastle may end up being rejected once again.

That would ordinarily signify that Isak won't be allowed to move, since Howe will need to have at least one striker to use this season and the Premier League kicks off in just less than two weeks. But no, the situation might genuinely have become so dire that keeping Isak this season is no longer an option.

He spent most of the last few weeks with his former club Real Sociedad - who have a sell-on clause in his contract, so would stand to benefit from Newcastle selling him - and if that isn't clear evidence of him going on strike in order to force his club's hand into letting him go, then I don't know what is.

Furthermore, the intel from David Ornstein and the other journalists covering the saga is that keeping him is not going to be beneficial for all parties. One way or another, you'd expect is exit is inevitable.

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And Liverpool know this, because it's exactly the same thing that happened with Philippe Coutinho.

The Brazilian was subject to interest from Barcelona throughout the 2017 summer transfer window and while his move wasn't agreed during that time, he eventually left in January 2018 for £142m.

A figure that could not be ignored was presented for the player and Liverpool had to take it; the exact same situation is happening with Isak, regardless of whether they have a replacement available yet.

In regard to the Nunez issue, it appears as though Newcastle's owners already have a plan to solve that for us, with the PIF-backed Al-Hilal eyeing him up to fuel our efforts to take Isak off their hands.

So over the next few weeks, just sit back and relax. Everything will fall into place eventually. The scriptwriters have already made their prophecy. Once a player says they want to leave, they're gone.

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