New Alexander Isak contract – This looks like the right outcome | OneFootball

Alexander Isak with three years left on his Newcastle United contract.

Heading into this summer, it was widely reported that the club would open up talks with the striker and his representatives, to try and agree a new extended and enhanced deal.

We are still waiting for this to happen, at least in terms of put in the public domain.

No panic yet of course, Alexander Isak still has those three seasons left on his current contract.

However, it looks key moment, a massive moment.

Not that I believe there is any chance of him leaving this summer but if an announcement is made that Alexander Isak has indeed agreed a new longer contract, then it will totally end the daft summer 2025 departure stories that pollute the media.

Newcastle United are actually in a really good position generally with contracts, as you can see below, all of the key big United players/assets have three years or more left on their deals. The only exception is to an extent Sven Botman, though having had major injury issues it is understandable that there has been no rush, no urgency, to get him on more than the two years he currently has left. Not that I think Botman won’t be staying longer, or there is any danger of a new extended contract not happening, just a case of it making sense to wait until he is back fit on an ongoing basis.

Back to Alexander Isak though and he is a bit of a unique stand out case, amongst the Newcastle United players.

Yes, there are still three years left on his current contract, but it is universally agreed that this is the right moment where a new deal has to happen.

For starters, Isak needs to be rewarded for his contribution to what has happened at NUFC. Yes, we all know he is already paid a lot of money, but in football terms he needs to be now paid a lot more. He needs to be shown that he is valued by the club. A recognition that pretty much any other club would be desperate to sign him if he became available.

So we have agreed that the time has come for Alexander Isak to be paid a lot more money.

You then have the other side of the equation.

At the same time, I think it is clear that Newcastle United need to get Isak on a longer contract to help protect their position. Not that I think Alexander Isak is the type to do the dirty on his club but the simple fact is that for clubs trying to buy him, if say it was allowed to go down to two years left on his contract or less, the selling club (NUFC) is in a far weaker bargaining position when it comes to a potential transfer fee.

So we have that typical contract extension scenario, the player gets more money, in return the club gets more security on their asset via an extended number of years on the contract.

I think though with this Alexander Isak situation, a third element will be needed to get a new deal agreed.

In the real world, we have to accept that we’ve had three years of this brilliant striker playing for us AND I think it is more than fair that we hope and expect that will become four seasons with this upcoming 2025/26 campaign.

However, I certainly wouldn’t begrudge Alexander Isak if he wanted to have the freedom to decide for himself what he wants to do when we get to summer 2026.

It isn’t a case of I want him to leave or even believe that will be the case, however, I think it would be fair and balanced if after four years, such a brilliant player can decide for himself.

If Newcastle United continue to build on the trophy and Champions League qualification of 2024/25, progress further next season, then why would Alexander Isak want to leave?

However, if things stall, or go backwards, the fact is that Alexander Isak will be set to turn 27 in September 2026, so you couldn’t blame him for considering his options, as he enters such a key time of his career.

The truth of course is that it is pointless keeping an unhappy player anyway, if he is desperate to leave.

The compromise and clincher for this new Newcastle United contract to be agreed, is that for me it will also included a release clause figure for summer 2026, where if Alexander Isak did want to leave, a figure was already in place that would allow things to happen without a very messy potential saga. As for what that figure would be, that’s for Alexander Isak and Newcastle United to agree. However, what it would mean is that if you had any clubs trying it on, trying to put in daft low bids, Newcastle United would just need to refer them to that release clause figure. Don’t bother us unless you come back and offer that figure. It would then be up to Alexander Isak himself as to whether or not he wanted to make a move to any interested club.

It is the norm on the continent for most top players to have a release clause figure, as it makes things so less messy.

I think keeping Alexander Isak has always depended on Newcastle United progressing, showing ambition, convincing him that he can achieve his ambitions here. So nothing would really be changing, apart from the fact that the striker would get the higher wages he deserves and Newcastle United would get additional protection to ensure that if Isak ever leaves, they will get the right level of transfer fee to allow reinvestment in the squad.

We actually saw this play out to an extent previously, when Bruno Guimaraes agreed a longer-term deal in early 2024 but that deal included a release clause figure that was only active for a period of time in the summer 2024 window. It was never made public why this £100m Bruno release clause was included in that new contract for the midfielder, but it was in place on that temporary basis.

I just think we have to be grown up with all of this.

As fans, we know that the reality is that at some point almost all players will leave, you just hope you can keep your best players for as long as possible, hopefully until their best days are behind them and you have benefited massively from them, whilst at the same time hoping you can move your weakest players on as soon as possible.

Not a single Newcastle United player has been desperate to leave so far since Mike Ashley and Steve Bruce left, a position that hopefully will never change and which I think is more than possible, if the club’s owners can give Eddie Howe the proper backing that he deserves, on both an immediate basis this summer AND long-term.

How the Newcastle United contracts situation now looks (via official club releases and media reports), when current deals are up:

End of June 2026:

Schar, Targett, Pope, Longstaff, Ashby, Hayden, Trippier, Krafth, Dubravka, Lascelles, Ruddy, Gillespie

End of June 2027:

Botman, Burn, Jacob Murphy, Willock

End of June 2028:

End of June 2029: