Former England captain Wayne Rooney says it would be “difficult” for Alexander Isak to stay at Newcastle, as he recalled balaclava-clad men outside his house amid his own transfer saga in 2010.
Isak’s future has been one of the big talking points of the summer, after the Magpies rejected a £110m offer for the Sweden striker from Liverpool on 1 August.
The 25-year-old remains determined to join the Reds and is said to be “adamant he will never represent Newcastle again”.
Rooney was no stranger to transfer sagas during his own playing career and, while he was playing for Manchester United 15 years ago, there were rumours of him joining fierce rivals Manchester City.
There was such outrage to the potential move that some angry supporters turned up outside Rooney’s house in the middle of the night., external
“It is tough, we had a group of lads outside my house in balaclavas at 3am in the morning,” he said, speaking on his new BBC podcast The Wayne Rooney Show.
“It is scary. Coleen was sat up feeding Kai and she woke me up, we phoned the police and I went down. What they didn’t know was that I was going in the next morning to sign a new deal.
“I went down to say ‘what are you doing at this time in the morning, it is not right’. I think that they thought them coming to my house made me sign my new deal!
“If you have frustration I think there’s banter, and fans will have a go at players on the pitch, but sometimes it goes too far. Turning up at players’ houses, I think that is wrong.”
On Isak, Rooney feels it is getting to the point where it is best for all concerned for the player to move on.
“Isak is a top player,” he said. “It is very difficult for him to stay at Newcastle – I have seen a lot of things with the club’s fans saying he has gone about it the wrong way.
“You don’t know what they are saying at board level but you imagine they would want him to stay, because for Newcastle to lose Isak when they are trying to build and try and form a squad to challenge for the league – it is a big loss for them.
“The difference now – with all the financial fair play and PSR – for Newcastle it might benefit them to sell him to free up money, bring more players in and actually make the squad a little bit stronger.
“For Isak as well it is an opportunity to join Liverpool, who have just won the Premier League. It is such a huge opportunity for him.”
The first episode of The Wayne Rooney Show is available now – watch on BBC Sport YouTube, external and iPlayer. Listen on BBC Sounds.
