Leaving Alexander Isak to rot is not an option | OneFootball

I read the article on Saturday by Simon Ritter on The Mag, namely ‘Football agent unpicks Alexander Isak situation – Intriguing insight’, having also seen the interview football agent Sky Andrew gave to Sky Sports.

Essential watching, or reading, if you prefer Simon’s article.

However, and this is assuming Alexander Isak isn’t offloaded by 7pm on Monday, for every Newcastle United fan who is advocating the treacherous Swede should rot in the reserves forever more (or more to the point, until the three years that remain on his contract are up), consider the following.

The Swedish FA has done Newcastle United no favours by selecting Isak for their forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Slovenia and Kosovo.

They seem more than prepared to reward bad behaviour and in some respects, who can blame them for selecting such a talismanic figure, but in so doing, they have condoned Isak’s outrageously poor conduct and seemingly given him the green light to perform on the biggest stage next summer, irrespective of whether he plays for his club side or not.

Of course, training on his own and without game time between internationals is far from ideal, for both the striker and his country, but having selected him, the powers that be in Stockholm have properly undermined any attempt by Newcastle United to enforce Isak’s contract.

Our owners have committed well north of £200 million this window. Who knows, there might be another £50 million parted with for either Wissa or Strand Larsen by the time the window closes. That is some outlay in a world where accounting red tape and financial regulations are king, and as fans of Newcastle United know too well, is unlikely to be sustainable.

These days, every debit entry recorded in the P&L account needs a compensating credit to appear.

If Newcastle United is unable to offload Isak, whether for the derisory £110 million Liverpool have already offered, or for the £150 million considered by most to be a more appropriate asking price, how is the club going to reconcile this summer’s spending spree with the financial straitjacket PSR has proved to be?

Despite having an obscene amount of cash at its disposal, Newcastle United is not operating without financial impunity like Manchester City did in the aftermath of their takeover, splurging crazy money on bang average players like Robinho.

The real question in circumstances where Alexander Isak remains an employee of Newcastle United come 7pm tomorrow evening is, who’ll blink first?

Despite the strength of feeling amongst the fanbase (the chants emanating from the away end at Elland Road made the contempt Isak is held in, abundantly clear) it is in neither party’s interest to perpetuate this Mexican stand-off.

Alexander Isak needs regular football, if he has designs on a big money move and wants to represent his country at next summer’s World Cup.

For the same reasons and more, Newcastle United need to squeeze every last drop out of what until Saturday was their record signing.