Hokey Cokey thread

[Durhamfootman]

Arsenal have another

Leeds have another

Wissa has left the Brentford training camp and is thought to be on his way to either Newcastle or Spurs. He's 29 so he won't be coming to Newcastle. Eddie H likes them a lot younger than that, PSR likes them a lot cheaper than that. Wissa is a Thomas Frank fan... he'll go to Spurs

[Durhamfootman]

After 2 years of constant speculation about Isak and which bigger club are going to take him, today I'm finally worried

Whenever he's linked with a club somewhere and their supporters get all excited about it I've always thought 'read 'em and weep, suckers', but something has changed today. He didn't go to play in the Celtic game at the weekend and we were told it was to protect him from all the speculation, which sounded really odd, but it was confirmed he was absolutely going on the SE Asia tour, 100%, so okay.....

Now he isn't going on the tour because of a minor thigh injury. Well that's just nonsense, because a club's star striker and biggest playing asset wouldn't be told to stay at home from a lucrative overseas tour with a minor niggle. Even if the injury was genuine and Eddie didn't want to risk him, he'd still be there to do media interviews, sign autographs, wander around the grounds waving to the crowds, so that's just rubbish

I imagine he is staying at home for talks with the club to try and sort something out, whether that means staying or leaving. We've all been bombarded with daily speculation, we know that Liverpool have been in touch with his agent (which I presume is legit) and given that Isak might very well be one of, if not the, biggest transfer fee since Neymar went to PSG (was that one 200 million?), and the agent stands to make 10 or 15% of that, then he'll have been whispering away trying to unsettle the player and buy himself a new mansion in the process.

Now... if Newcastle were to sell him, they could easily double their money on the player and probably rake in another 20 or 30 million quid in add on's, so the numbers make sense, but the optics would be shockingly bad. Firstly, unless the player is agitating for a move then there is no need to sell him. 3 years still on his deal, no PSR issues for the time being, a manager who has repeatedly been told that his star man is going nowhere, top earner at the club, biggest league in the world, champions league secured, trophy in the trophy room. If PIF bow to the pressure and sell him, how does that affect their relationship with the manager? Does that unsettle him? They can ill afford to lose Eddie Howe, no matter who the big name is that they then brought in. If EH left, then the owner/fan base relationship risks going into Ashley territotory.

It's not even about losing Isak... he could just as easily rupture his achilles 10 mins into the season and be out for a year and we'd have to manage without him in that situation, so we'd have to manage if he left....... but....... One by one all of Newcastle's targets to strengthen the squad in that central striker role have gone somewhere else and a big part of that will have been that they are superstars as well (at least in their own mind) and they'd rather go somewhere else where they won't automatically have to be content with playing second fiddle to Isak. By being adamant that he isn't going anywhere, they pushed away pretty much every player they fancied who might have stepped into that role... which is fine if Isak isn't going anywhere, but if he does, then they're screwed, because the number of targets they had identified to improve the side and who would fit into the club and the ethos and everything that is so important to the manager, has either narrowed considerably or disappeared altogether........ suddenly we are left with the Calvert Lewin freebies and any other striker that clubs fancy getting shot of

worse than that, the one premier league ready striker already at the club, ended up being released, despite EH wanting a deal extension to be struck, because the player wanted to play football somewhere while he still could and not be stuck on the bench all the time

If Isak goes, after all of this, then it doesn't matter a toss how much money they make on a sale, even if they they really have to make the sale despite all the talk, they risk losing far, far more in the long run, not least if the fan base turn on the owners. It would be shambolic and undermine club, manager, playing staff, everybody. The fall out could end up affecting everything the club have tried to build

[Durhamfootman]

Sunderland about to complete the signing of Granit Xhaka from Leverkusen

[sussexpob]

Press reporting that Isak has agreed a contract with Liverpool. I guess it doesn't matter anymore that this would be highly illegal, and punishments in the rules for tapping up a player are very harsh. Newcastle's stance is clear - we aren't negotiating, so I assume they did not allow Isak to talk to Liverpool.

Then again, the last time Liverpool got busted with their pants down tapping up Virgil Van Dijk, the FA decided there was no evidence that anything wrong had occurred... even after Liverpool issued a public apology for doing it!!! Sorry lads, we can't do anything....aside from their public admission of guilt, there is no evidence they did anything.

[Durhamfootman]

the problem for Newcastle is if they do decide to cash in, and they might not, every club in the world will know they have money to spend and a £50million player will become an £85million player the moment Newcastle look interested.

Eddie Howe seems to have a pretty good reputation for making very shrewd buys that nobody else spots, so as soon as Newcastle get close to a player, somebody else jumps in and gazumps. Get 150M for Isak and Newcastle will have to buy 2 strikers instead of one and at inflated Isak sale money prices, they could easily use up the bulk of that money just to replace him. If Isak goes to Liverpool (a very foolish decision for Newcastle to take) then he might be the player that knocks them out of the CL, stops them from qualifying for the next CL and end up costing them the thick end of half of his sale price anyway.

If he has to go, he can't go to a team that can hurt Newcastle in the short/medium term. The only safe option is to let him go to a different league. There aren't many clubs with that sort of buying power though, although Al Hilal have offered Isak £600,000 a week to go there, which he won't, so those options are going to be few. Saudi and MLS are probably the only leagues with that sort of money.

I guess the upside for Newcastle is that if they keep him the player is unlikely to go on strike, or deliberately play badly, because with 3 years on his contract his stock will fall through the floor very quickly if he isn't banging goals in week in week out. Maybe Newcastle's best move is to offer him a short extension on his contract, on the same money Liverpool have offered him, but with a £100m release clause if Newcastle don't qualify for the CL.

It's a tough one. Selling him to Liverpool would be such a stupid thing to do, given the potential impact on Newcastle's finances, let alone their ambitions, that I really hope they don't do it.

[Durhamfootman]

Ramsdale is having his Newcastle medical today, so that deal looks done

Diaz to Bayern

Xhaka confirmed for Sunderland

[Durhamfootman]

Looks like Ramsdale is a season long loan with an option to buy

[sussexpob]

Liverpool insulting Newcastle with an opening gambit of 100m.

[Durhamfootman]

they're deliberately spinning it out to try and unsettle the player even further and disrupt Newcastle's start to the season, I reckon

[Durhamfootman]

Luke Edwards from the telegraph (I think he used to work for the Northern Echo a few years ago) reckons that Newcastle spent a lot of time last season 'war gaming' what would happen if somebody came in for him with mega money, because they were certain somebody would, and so have a plan in place to resist exactly this sort of incursion by Liverpool. The only thing that changes their plan is if the player himself asks to leave, which is why Liverpool and Isak's agent have spent the entire summer whispering in his ear.

Well let's hope that the last part of their plan is robust, because the first part of it.... bringing in possible replacements early.... hasn't gone very well.

[Durhamfootman]

Ramsdale to Newcastle confirmed

because you can never have too many goalkeepers

[Durhamfootman]

Sunderland have a new goalie too

[Durhamfootman]

Dubravka to Burnley.... tbh I thought it might be Pope they got rid of. One of our better signings, Dubravka. Cost 4M, played for years, never let us down

Burnley also have a Chelseas player, that I've never heard of

Sunderland have a Chelsea loanee

All quiet on the Isak front for now as Sesko looks set to go to Man U, but Nunez to Al Hilal looks close, so expect that to change.

[Durhamfootman]

there is talk of a Newcastle move for Jackson from Chelsea, but you'd have to have a screw loose to sign that daft knacker, especially since Chelsea have already doubled the fee to 65M in expectation

[Durhamfootman]

Sunderland have 10th signing

Newcastle have a new defender up for a medical tomorrow