I believe bringing in Alexander Isak replacement a year early | OneFootball

It has been a strange couple of days for Newcastle United fans.

The club making a record bid for Hugo Ekitike that was turned down by Eintracht Frankfurt, have Liverpool enquire about Alexander Isak, now the Scousers seemingly set to sign Ekitike.

If that is to be the case, I’m sure most Newcastle United fans won’t be too displeased.

As the vast majority would happily lose out on Ekitike if it means retaining Isak.

However, the whole situation has left me a tad confused.

Given our lack of transfer activity in recent windows, I’m nothing short of buzzing that we’re making such ambitious bids and moves in the transfer market once again. Even knowing that we have the money available to spend this summer is a massive win in and of itself.

However, I must admit I was extremely surprised, and a bit perplexed, that we would be willing to pay such a sum for what would seem to be a back-up forward in Hugo Ekitike.

Alexander Isak is one of the best strikers in the world. Almost every big club in the world wants Isak but cannot afford him.

Given our desperation to keep this generational talent at the club for as long as possible, with the chairman specifically instructing the club to keep his favourite player at all costs, it seems incredibly strange to sign over £70 million pounds worth of competition for him.

Many journalists have reported, that Newcastle United weren’t trying to sign Hugo Ekitike as competition to Alexander Isak, but to actually play alongside him. Sorry, but I don’t believe that for one second.

Eddie Howe has been extremely consistent with his 4-3-3 formation since his arrival, with very few changes in that time. Elanga and Gordon are both very attacking wingers and our midfield three is arguably the strongest area of our team. If we were to drop Joelinton, as many suspect would happen if Eddie Howe started with two strikers, we would have an extremely top heavy side, whilst also losing out on a vital physical presence in our midfield. I just don’t buy it.

Given our bids for Pedro, Ekitike and now seemingly Yoane Wissa, it’s clear the club is going big in the striker department, yet none of the angles seem to make sense to me. If they aren’t going to be a long term back up, and they aren’t going to start beside Isak, then what’s the deal? Here’s my theory.

Unfortunately, it is extremely unlikely that Alexander Isak is going to be at the club much longer, given he is one of the most wanted men in world football. We can’t provide the wages other clubs with higher PSR barriers can and we are yet to be challenging for league and European titles. It’s pretty likely that Isak would be gone this summer if not for us securing Champions League football.

I believe that we likely have one year of Isak left and that he will leave the club next summer. Even more certainly if we fail to get Champions League or win another trophy. By that point, with two years left on his deal and Isak more likely to request a move, we will not have as strong of a position to try and retain him, unless a contract extension is agreed.

I believe the club are bringing in Isak’s replacement a season early, to embed them into the club, learn the team’s play style, learn from Isak himself, before he eventually departs next summer. We’ve seen that Eddie likes to slowly introduce players into the first team, so giving them a season to adapt before they become the main man up top sounds like a very Eddie Howe move.

It’s also worth mentioning that, at the moment, there are not many clubs in any position to truly make a move for Isak. Many of the clubs who maybe could afford him, such as Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich, all have world class strikers of their own.

Liverpool may be the only team capable of making any slightly reasonable move for Alexander Isak at the moment, given that they both have the money and are in need of a world class centre forward. Despite Arsenal’s apparent long standing interest in Isak, which may have been completely imagined by their fanbase, their lack of concrete interest almost certainly indicates that they know they cannot afford him right now.

Ideally, Newcastle United would not want to sell our prized asset to a Premier League rival, especially as we are trying to compete up the very top end of the table ourselves. I wouldn’t be surprised if we are holding out in the hope that Barcelona get their finances in order, or that PSG find themselves in need of a world class striker in a season’s time, or maybe even that Bayern Munich need a younger successor to an ageing Harry Kane.

All we can do is speculate, and I could be completely misjudging the situation, but it seems to me that Newcastle United are preparing for the inevitable sale of our star man, whether we like it or not.

Given that we are certainly not giving up our striker hunt any time soon, only time will tell whether my theory has any merit, or if Eddie Howe truly is radically changing up his tactics.