Striker Alexander Isak may have to accept a special provision in the contract if joining Liverpool, and the reason comes from an event related to former Ryan Babel player.
Since the end of the 2024/25 season, Isak's future has become a hot topic. The Swedish player scored 27 goals after 42 matches last season, and caught the sights of a series of big clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, MU and Al Hilal.
Despite rumors, Newcastle always holds the stance that Isak is not for sale, and only accepts negotiations if they receive a huge offer. However, Liverpool has not given up. Although newly recruited Hugo Ekitike from Frankfurt, they still have special attention to Isak.
Recently, Newcastle confirmed that Isak did not join the Asian team to train before the season due to injury. Shortly thereafter, many reputable sources said that Isak announced his intention to leave, with Liverpool as the number one priority destination.
If Isak actually transferred to Anfield, a special provision of social networking may be included in the British contract, stemming from the incident with Ryan Babel in 2011.
At that time, after Liverpool's 0-1 defeat against MU at the FA Cup (the match controlled by the referee Howard Webb), Babel posted on Twitter the image of the Webb wearing a MU shirt: “They call him the best referee? It's ridiculous.”
The Tweet line causes global storms, both CNN and Sky Sports. As a result, Babel was fined 10,000 pounds, becoming the first player in the UK to be fined for social networks. Since this incident, the clubs have started to include the contract to control behavior on social networks.
“I thought that because of me, the teams began to put into the contract: If you post something that affects the club image, you will be fined,” Babel said.
Overall, if Isak signed a contract with Liverpool, he would probably have to accept the provisions of behavior on social networks, in order to avoid repeating precedent from Babel's incident. This is a small detail but reflects the way top clubs control image and legal risks in the era of strong social networking.