This new Alexander Isak contract agreement with Newcastle United looks like it would be right solution | OneFootball

A new Newcastle United contract for Alexander Isak.

That is what is now making the headlines.

Journalists, media, now inventing figures that they claim Alexander Isak is ‘demanding’ before he signs a new longer contract.

Which I suppose is at least an improvement on the media inventing figures of what Alexander Isak is ‘definitely’ going to be sold for in this transfer window.

The current Alexander Isak contract position is that he still has three more years left on his Newcastle United deal, taking him up to 30 June 2028.

It has long been reported that Newcastle United would this summer look to extend that Isak contract. Reward the player with more money and in return the length of the contract would be extended beyond the three years.

This is of course also very much tied in to having more security with the star goalscorer, a new contract sending out the message that he is going nowhere and then if Alexander Isak did leave sometime in the future, the more years left on his contract the stronger the bargaining position when negotiating a selling price with another club.

The consensus with player contracts in the Premier League and beyond, is that three years or more is a strong position, if that then heads towards only two years left if going into a new season with no agreement on a new deal, your position weakened to an extent.

Nobody knows exactly what any player gets paid, apart from in very rare circumstances. Bruno Guimaraes though is widely reported to be Newcastle’s current best paid player after agreeing a new contract in 2024, getting paid somewhere around £150,000 to £160,000 per week.

Alexander Isak on less than this then, for arguments sake…lets say currently £140,000 a week (£7m per year).

Now the media are all over this.

Quite clearly they haven’t got a clue what Alexander Isak is ‘demanding’ from Newcastle United but the figure they have all thought up appears to be £300,000 a week, £15m per year.

All that this is for me, is a case of journalists looking at what certain top players get paid and then putting that figure (£300,000 a week) as the supposed ‘demand’ from Alexander Isak.

The reality for me is that if indeed Newcastle United are having talks with Alexander Isak and his representatives on a new contract, then like all negotiations, the two sides start at their respective points and then look to reach agreement somewhere in between.

My belief is that a new Newcastle United contract will be agreed with Alexander Isak.

My best guess is the following…

The new contract will be for a minimum of five years.

Alexander Isak will agree to new wages of around £220,000 a week (£11m per year) and £250,000 a week (£12.5m per year). Becoming by some distance United’s best paid player, not as much as some top players get elsewhere, but Newcastle doing enough to satisfy the striker that he is appreciated and has been suitably rewarded for his contribution.

I think though that with this Alexander Isak situation, a third element will be included in this potential new extended contract.

The compromise and clincher for this new Newcastle United contract to be agreed, is that for me it will also include 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.

Put that release clause figure in a new extended Alexander Isak contract BUT only make it effective as from summer 2026.

Get that signed and make it clear that in the meantime Alexander Isak isn’t for sale at any price, until that agreed release clause figure becomes effective in a year’s time. Ideally, once a new contract agreed, then get Isak himself as part of the announcement, to say that there is no chance of him leaving this summer, that 100 per cent he will be playing for Newcastle United throughout the 2025/26 season.

What it would mean is that if you had any clubs trying it on this summer (such as Liverpool…), especially if trying to put in daft low bids (£120m for instance…), Newcastle United would just need to refer them to that new contract, the release clause figure that will become effective in summer 2026 and that zero chance of Alexander Isak leaving before then.

Don’t bother us until next summer AND even then, only come back if you are going to offer that release clause figure that would be in the new contract agreed by Newcastle and Isak. It would then be up to Alexander Isak himself next summer, 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 a lot less messy.

Assuming Alexander Isak stays for this new 2025/26 season, by summer 2026 he would have been at Newcastle United for four years and would be set to turn 27 in September 2026.

Hopefully United will still be on an upward trajectory and can satisfy all of his ambitions, if not, then fair enough for Isak at that point to consider his options.