Renowned The Athletic journalists denied rumours claiming that Liverpool is interested in making a Darwin Núñez and Alexander Isak swap deal with Newcastle United..

The Athletic's resident renowned English Liverpool team correspondent James Pearce, and resident renowned English Newcastle United team correspondent Chris Waugh, jointly denied rumours claiming that the two clubs were interested in swapping their center forwards, Uruguay international player Darwin Núñez, and Sweden international player Alexander Isak, through a podcast on the streaming platform Spotify on Thursday.

Waugh refuted in the podcast that Newcastle United had never been interested in signing Núñez, and he really didn't understand why there was such nonsense.

Similarly, James Pearce also said that Liverpool had indeed been paying attention to Isak since the player was still a Borussia Dortmund player, and was considering whether to sign the Magpies striker during the upcoming summer transfer window. However, the Reds would not overpay a transfer fee higher than the original asking price plus a swap deal including Núñez or any other players as an offer to buy Isak, so as not to violate the Financial Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).

Pearce added that the club who was really interested in signing Núñez was Al-Nassr.

He revealed that Al-Nassr had approached Núñez's agent during the January winter transfer window, and the player was open to moving to the Saudi Pro League.

However, in the end, because Al-Nassr only officially submitted an offer to Liverpool on the winter transfer window deadline day, and because there was no time to find a suitable player to replace the former Benfica striker, the Reds did not accept Al-Nassr's offer.

As for the rumours claiming that Barcelona was interested in signing Colombia international left winger Luis Díaz, Pearce said that since the rumours were basically the same, and the rumours had already been refuted hundreds of times, he was too lazy to respond to it. In short, all the rumours about Díaz are fake.

Upon verification, the rumours about Nunez, Isak and Díaz were all fabricated and spread by American media outlet ESPN.

It is worth mentioning that almost every rumour claiming that "Barça is interest in signing Díaz" was first published by ESPN, but the statements in these rumours are always the same.

About Alexander Isak

The 25-year-old Alexander Isak was born on September 21, 1999 in Solna, Sweden. He is 1.92 meters tall and primarily plays as a center forward. He can also play as a left winger. He has dual Swedish and Eritrean citizenship.

Isak previously played for AIK Solna, Dortmund, Willem II and Real Sociedad. In August 2002, he joined Newcastle United from Real Sociedad for €70 million pound.

So far this season, Isak has played 29 times for the Magpies in all competitions, scoring 19 goals and 5 assists. He is one of the most efficient center forwards in Europe's top five leagues.

About Darwin Núñez

Darwin Núñez, 25, was born on June 24, 1999 in Artigas, Uruguay. He is 1.87 meters tall and mainly plays as a center forward. He can also play as a left winger and has excellent pace.

Núñez has previously played for Peñarol, Almeria and Benfica. In July 2022, he joined Liverpool for a record-breaking price of £80 million, becoming the most expensive player in the Reds' club history.

Since becoming a member of the Reds, Nunez has played 131 times for the Premier League giants in all competitions, scoring 39 goals, assisting 22 times, and has led the club to win the Carabao Cup once and the English Community Shield once.