Former defender Jamie Carragher fears the trend of players rebelling to leave, like Alexander Isak’s move to Liverpool, will set a bad precedent for English football.

“It’s a sad day for football. I’m not against players wanting to leave, but when the club is still paying thousands of dollars a week, you have to train and play,” Carragher told Sky Sports on September 2.

OrClick to flip next/previous imageBefore

Alexander Isak signed for Liverpool and Yoane Wissa made his Newcastle debut on deadline day of the 2025 summer transfer window.

On the final day of the 2025 summer transfer window, Isak joined Liverpool from Newcastle for a record $175.5 million , while Yoane Wissa left Brentford for Newcastle for a fee of $75 million. Before that, both strikers rebelled , not playing in the pre-season friendly series as well as the opening three rounds of the Premier League.

On the contrary, Marc Guehi is still training and playing, despite expressing his desire to leave Crystal Palace. Liverpool reached an agreement to buy the English centre-back for 47.4 million USD and scheduled a medical. But Chairman Steve Parish changed his mind at the last minute when the team could not find a suitable replacement, causing the deal to fall through. Previously, coach Oliver Glasner had also repeatedly affirmed that he wanted to keep Guehi at Selhurst Park and even threatened to resign if the club sold the 25-year-old player.

Carragher used Guehi’s case as an example to compare with Isak and Wissa’s rebellion to pressure their clubs. “He behaved professionally, was still loved by the coach and the fans. But in the end, the ones who left were the players who put pressure on him,” the former Liverpool midfielder commented.

According to Carragher, the incident is even more worrying because within the club, teammates and fans are willing to forgive when players stay and continue to score. “I’ve seen it with Luis Suarez. When they score, everyone cheers, hugs and kisses and everything is forgotten,” he shared.

Marc Guehi celebrates during Crystal Palace’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa in the third round of the Premier League at Villa Park in Birmingham, England on August 31, 2025. Photo: Reuters

According to Carragher, Isak’s recruitment is more important to Liverpool than Guehi, because the team has four options at centre-back: Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, new signing Giovanni Leoni, not to mention Ryan Gravenberch who can play out of position. “A centre-back is necessary for the future because Van Dijk is getting old, Konate also has contract issues. But compared to a centre-forward, Isak is clearly more important,” Carragher emphasized.

Despite the Guehi deal falling through, Liverpool still had a record transfer window with a total spending of $584.5 million. Before Isak, the Anfield team recruited Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Giorgi Mamardashvili and Giovanni Leoni.

With three straight wins at the start of the season, Carragher said: “It’s hard not to see Liverpool as the biggest candidate for the championship. Even when they weren’t playing at their best, they still won all nine points.”