Alexander Isak not for sale at any price as Newcastle United miss out on these priority signings | OneFootball

An interesting new report has given an excellent overview on what is happening with Newcastle United this summer, especially Alexander Isak and the club’s challenge on bringing in new signings.

The past three transfer windows have seen the club get their PSR situation back in a healthy position, three transfer windows without a new first team contender brought in, whilst first team squad players Anderson, Minteh, Kelly and Almiron have all been sold (as well as Sean Longstaff now also sold, plus Callum Wilson leaving at the end of his contract.

The expected very busy summer 2025 transfer window hasn’t materialised yet, where a number of new first team contenders were expected to come in, plus the squad numbers significantly increased.

Anthony Elanga looks a great signing, a £55m capture from Nottingham Forest, but with three and a half weeks to go until the Premier League kicks off, he is so far the only new first team contender Eddie Howe has been handed.

The Telegraph giving this overview from Luke Edwards on where Newcastle United and Eddie Howe currently stand:

‘There is no point trying to pretend otherwise; there is no amount of spin that can turn this into a positive for Newcastle United. They have had a bad summer and nobody at the club will try and argue differently.

They have tried and failed to sign at least five of their priority targets. They have been snubbed. It is the painful sting of rejection. A realignment in recruitment is needed.

Newcastle wanted to sign Bryan Mbeumo (going to Manchester United), Liam Delap (joined Chelsea), João Pedro (signed for Chelsea) and Hugo Ekitike (on the verge of joining Liverpool). They also held a brief interest in Matheus Cunha (gone to Manchester United) and Dean Huijsen (signed for Real Madrid) before swiftly moving on.

The reality is this: Newcastle are shopping in the top-tier player market because they want to build a top-level team. That is fine in theory, but in practice, they fail whenever there is competition. The pool of elite players is a small one. Everyone is looking for the same things but other clubs can offer more money…’

Liverpool agreed a £79m deal for a new first choice striker in Hugo Ekitike, who is 23 and has only had one very decent full season of first team football so far. Newcastle had offered £65m for him to play second striker to Alexander Isak and that looked expensive based on what Ekitike has achieved so far, whilst Liverpool no doubt paying very high wages as well.

With the other five listed above though, one thing sticks out, they are all Premier League proven players, to a greater or lesser extent. Plus, I don’t really see why we should be shocked or surprised that none of them ending up signing for Newcastle United.

Eddie Howe and Newcastle United might have liked the look of Cunha and Mbeumo to an extent but it looks clear they didn’t make any effort to sign them, or indeed had a chance of doing so. Mbeumo has now said he was always only wanting to sign for Man U because he supported them as a kid, whilst Cunha was clearly also intent on only signing for Man U for whatever reason(s) and had obviously agreed to sign for them even before last season was done.

Plus, other Premier League clubs, not just Newcastle United, would have wanted to sign Mbeumo and/or Cunha but nobody is listing those clubs as having failed to sign them.

The same with Delap and Pedro, clearly other Premier League clubs were also wanting to sign them, but Pedro (like so many other Brighton employees) only wanted to join Chelsea it appears and Delap has stated that he has a connection to a number of other people at Stamford Bridge.

As for Dean Huijsen, everybody has known he was going to Real Madrid for almost as long as we knew Alexander-Arnold was. To claim Huijsen was some major failure for Newcastle United is really stretching it, as every Premier League club would have bought him and surely NUFC, like the rest of us, knew for sure he was heading to Spain a long time ago.

The man from The Telegraph points out:

‘When Newcastle were looking to close the gap on the “Big Six”, they signed up-and-coming players who could grow with them. They identified players with potential, such as Alexander Isak, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães, before the bigger clubs were willing to take a chance on them.

Their needs are different now. They have closed the gap, but staying there is a different sort of challenge. They desired “plug-in-and-play” signings who could make an instant impact on the Champions League and the Premier League. That is the level they find themselves at because of results on the pitch but, given their many failures in this window, they may have to tilt back in the former direction.

Unfortunately, Newcastle are the weakest members of that top-tier group from a financial and prestige standpoint. It has been reaffirmed by everything that has happened over the past few weeks.’

I think this is of course key, what Luke Edwards has said here. However, it is worth pointing out that whilst Isak, Tonali and Bruno (and Botman) were all seen to an extent (Tonali had won Serie A, Botman had won Ligue 1, Bruno had been capped by Brazil, Isak had scored goals in La Liga) as up and coming players still, the stand out fact is they were all signings from abroad, who weren’t as yet Premier League proven. Whilst the relatively big money signings that were previously made from Premier League clubs, were really young players such as Hall and Livramento who had played very few games, plus Gordon who hadn’t played a great deal more than that pair.

It hasn’t all been bad news and plenty other clubs would have wanted to sign Anthony Elanga and Forest desperate to keep him. This time Newcastle had the advantage as Elanga was desperate to sign for NUFC and is close friends with Osula and Isak, helping to attract him here.

I can understand why Eddie Howe and Newcastle United wanted readymade Premier League players with a proven track record BUT it appears obvious that like many other Premier League clubs, it means NUFC do need to look for and sign more Brunos, Tonalis, Botmans and Isaks from the continent, where transfer fees and wages aren’t as high and where other PL clubs that are looking for older proven ‘sure thing’ signings, might not be competing.

As for buying Premier League players, maybe another case of looking at these past successes, accepting that United need to now go for the next Gordons, Halls and Livramentos. Young players with not many games behind them but who have potential that Eddie Howe can progress and unleash.

Speaking of which, James Trafford is a player you would have fancied Newcastle could land, only 22 and a lot of potential, proven in the Championship but had a nightmare in his one Premier League season as Burnley were relegated in 2023/24.

Luke Edwards explaining what has happened with this NUFC James Trafford saga:

‘They are also now in danger of losing out to Manchester City in their attempt to buy goalkeeper James Trafford from Burnley. The player had wanted to join Newcastle for more than a year. Newcastle had a deal worth £20m in place to sign the England Under-21 international, only for the plug to be pulled shortly after Paul Mitchell was appointed as sporting director 12 months ago. The club had been willing to improve that offer to £25m in this window, but Burnley have been holding out for £40m following their return to the Premier League.

Negotiations reached a stalemate and now Man City – who negotiated a 20 per cent sell-on clause when they sold him to Burnley in 2023 – have made their interest in the 22-year-old known. It looks like Newcastle are going to miss out on another key target.’

Whilst I don’t think it was open warfare between them, I believe it’s pretty obvious that Eddie Howe and Paul Mitchell weren’t always on the same page. The fact he has left less than a year after coming in, says it all.

I don’t think Edwards though presents a compelling case for why Newcastle United could now have expected to get James Trafford for £25m. Burnley paid Man City £15m and he is their first choice keeper, so making a £6m profit (£25m less Man City’s 20% sell-on clause of any profit) sounds to me like an offer easy for Burnley to knock back. Whilst going up to say £40m on a young player who had a nightmare season previously in the Premier League, is a big sum and risky, BUT risky in a way that it was when Newcastle committed to the Hall and Livramento deals.

What we also have to accept is just how big a factor wages are.

Man U reportedly paying Mbeumo £220,000 a week (£11m per season) no doubt Cunha a similar amount. Huijsen will be on Real Madrid level wages, Chelsea paying Delap and Pedro whatever, whilst Ekitike will now be on more than any Newcastle player earns.

The Telegraph report covering this point:

‘Newcastle currently have the eighth-largest wage bill in English football and that will almost certainly not change this year. The bruising truth is it might never do so.

They could edge ahead of Aston Villa, just as they edged ahead of them in the league table last season, but the gap between themselves and the Big Six remains a gulf because so too do the revenue streams.

Newcastle may have enjoyed their most successful period for more than two decades, qualifying for the Champions League twice, as well as winning their first domestic trophy for 70 years, but they have exceeded expectations and defied predictions.

They have, in short, massively over-achieved. Nobody thought they could qualify for the Champions League and win a trophy 12 months ago, when a second transfer window passed without a first-team signing being made, but somehow they managed it.

It was a triumph against the odds, but you cannot keep pulling off miracles. Everyone at the club recognised that back in the spring when shortlists were drawn up.’

I think rather than ‘they’ (Newcastle United) having overachieved, the reality is that it is Eddie Howe who has worked miracles.

As the report says, this summer needed both quality and numbers to be added to the Newcastle United team and squad.

The report adding:

‘This summer was the chance to build a bigger squad, with more depth and upgrades in key positions. Having rid themselves of PSR constraints, this transfer window was supposed to be transformative.

Instead, Newcastle have hit a ceiling they are struggling to break through. They have improved with the signing of Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest, which ended a three-year search for a right sided forward. But they have so much still to do.

More players will arrive before deadline day, but internally there is a desire not to panic. As frustrating and as disappointing as recruitment has been up to this point, the worst thing they can do is sign someone for the sake of it, just to quieten the clamour for new faces that always comes at this time of year.’

This is where it is all about balance. Some Newcastle United fans would be happy at this point if money was spent on anyone, just so long as it was spent. However, it is absolutely vital that the money, especially the big money, is spent on the right players.

As for Alexander Isak and indeed all of Newcastle United’s key players, it becomes even more important to keep them at the club, when adding quality signings is so tricky.

The man from The Telegraph covering this side of things as well:

‘In turn, Newcastle have refused to be bullied. With Liverpool, and others, circling Isak, the pressure on them has been building.

But Newcastle have been steadfast. They insist, from the very top, which means chairman Yasir Al-Rumayaan and co-owner Jamie Reuben, that Isak is not for sale at any price this summer…for all the setbacks in terms of bringing players in this summer to improve the squad, the one thing Newcastle could not countenance is making themselves weaker.

Ambitious clubs do not sell their best players to a direct rival, for well below their valuation, when they have three years left on their contract.

And Newcastle do remain ambitious, even if they do not have everything in place to achieve their goals at the moment.

Isak is far too good and far too integral to how they play to lose him. Struggling to sign players is one thing; selling the world-class ones you have would be even worse. In a tricky period, that at least has been recognised.’

This is where I think we have to have some balance, some perspective.

Eddie Howe clearly needs more players to be added this summer, however, the way the media and some Newcastle fans go on, you would think United had lost a number of key players and hadn’t signed Anthony Elanga.

The time to properly judge will be when the transfer window closes in six weeks time and obviously signings made as early as possible would be a bonus. Plenty work obviously still to be done by Newcastle United in this transfer window but nobody should be writing off the club’s chances of success next season.