Why Newcastle United can have Alexander Isak AND Benjamin Sesko | OneFootball

Alexander Isak and Benjamin Sesko are making all the headlines now where Newcastle United are concerned.

Will Alexander Isak stay or go?

Will Benjamin Sesko sign from RB Leipzig?

Alexander Isak was back at the Newcastle United training ground on Monday and widely reported to be set to have talks with Eddie Howe, the United boss having arrived back from South Korea that morning.

As for Benjamin Sesko, a decision expected imminently from the player and RB Leipzig, with Newcastle United having upped their offer to a total of around £79m, with £70m guaranteed and £9m+ in potential add-ons if the 22 year old now moves to Tyneside.

I think quite clearly the majority view, amongst both journalists and fans, is that it is a case of either or? That Newcastle United will end up with Benjamin Sesko OR keeping Alexander Isak, if a Sesko deal doesn’t come to a successful conclusion.

A big part of that reasoning is due to a belief that the finances, the PSR position, wouldn’t stretch to Newcastle United having both Benjamin Sesko AND Alexander Isak. That to me is nonsense.

Indeed, I think it is more and more likely that Newcastle United could be attacking next season with both Sesko and Isak.

Eddie Howe is very persuasive and with Liverpool having only made a derisory £110m bid despite leaving it so late in the window, I can see every possibility of Isak getting a pay rise with a longer Newcastle United contract agreed and an agreement he can leave next summer if he chooses to.

This is a massive season for Newcastle United and going into it with a raw young striker like Benjamin Sesko as the main (only?) striker looks a big ask. Similarly, relying only on Alexander Isak, isn’t ideal. As we found out last season when he wasn’t available, or when having to play when clearly not 100%.

Having both Isak and Sesko in the squad could be a significant game changer in how it would then look with United’s prospects next season. Keeping Isak, adding Elanga, Ramsdale, Guehi (an exclusive from The Times this Tuesday morning says NUFC back in for him) or similar, plus another two or three signings, suddenly things looking very different from the doom and gloom that has hung over this summer’s transfer market for NUFC.

The thing is as well, signing a recently turned 22 year old Benjamin Sesko for £70m (plus add-ons), makes far more PSR/football sense than paying say £35m/£40m for Yoane Wissa who turns 29 next month. It fits far more in with Newcastle’s transfer strategy of buying young players with years of progress to come in both performance on the pitch and valuation off it.

Plus, the idea of Benjamin Sesko having less pressure and learning the ropes for a season whilst Alexander Isak is still here, looks sweet to me. Then quite possibly Isak moving finally next summer and Sesko ready to be the main man.

Like the rest of you I have no idea what will happen, however, I do believe that many fans get far too carried away with seeing whatever media speculation they choose to believe as fact, rather than the guesswork and based on lazy assumptions that it really is.

Everybody forgets that Newcastle United are under no real pressure to sell Alexander Isak. With three years left on his current deal there is zero contract pressure for NUFC to sell him, the same when it comes to the financial/PSR side of things. As for fans unhappy with Isak’s behaviour (real and imagined) in all of this transfer window mess, history tells us that once players get back on the pitch and are doing the business, all of that resentment and unhappiness swiftly fades away.

Newcastle United, PSR, signing Benjamin Sesko AND keeping Alexander Isak

Some Premier League clubs do have a better chance than others of not getting as badly afflicted by PSR…BUT it is something that all clubs have to live with.

I think it is clearly a case where your average fan of a club that has been impacted by PSR issues, will have far more of an idea about how exactly PSR works, than the average fan of those clubs who haven’t been so negatively hit by PSR issues so far.

For example, your average fan of Everton, Forest, Newcastle, Villa or Leicester, will have far more idea on PSR than the average fan of Liverpool, Man U, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal or Tottenham. About at least the basics anyway.

I know most of you will have heard this so many times before but PSR means that a Premier League club can’t lose more than £105m across any three season period. However, not all money spent counts towards the PSR losses, for example spending on your stadium and training ground (infrastructure), women’s teams, academy costs etc.

Naturally, the more money a club brings in, the more it can spend without getting close to making £105m losses over three seasons. However, all Premier League clubs have to live within PSR (even Chelsea…eventually) restrictions.

So whilst say Manchester City and Manchester United can spend far more than say Brentford and Bournemouth without getting into PSR difficulties, the rules still apply to them as well.

For any club the basic thing is that what has happened the previous two seasons with spending/losses, then dictates how much flexibility you have to spend within PSR.

Which brings us back to Newcastle United, Alexander Isak and Benjamin Sesko.

In 2021/22 and 2022/23, Newcastle United had to spend a fair bit of cash on players (and the club in general) so that relegation could be avoided and then progress from there, with Mike Ashley having left the club a total mess, on and off the pitch.

The club accounts showed losses of more than £70m in each of those two seasons (2021/22 and 2022/23), as I mentioned earlier, not all of these losses count towards PSR. However, it still then put a lot of pressure on 2023/24, in terms of staying within PSR.

Newcastle United did spend significantly in summer 2023 as they were heading into a Champions League season BUT as we all know, a reported £68m was generated by the sales of Anderson and Minteh on 30 June 2024, the very last day of the 2023/24 season accounting period.

When the accounts for the 2023/24 season were eventually released earlier this year, it showed Newcastle United lost £11m that season. Nothing is ever made public about what exactly the figure is for PSR purposes, once spending on the Academy, Women’s team, infrastructure is knocked off, but my guess is that for PSR purposes it is very likely that Newcastle United will be showing a profit for 2023/24.

It will be some time before we find out the accounts for the 2024/25 season but with winning a trophy, Champions League qualification via finishing fifth, Adidas deal now in play and so on, fair to say the revenues last season should be very healthy. Then after not buying a single new first team player in the January 2024 transfer window, the same in Summer 2024, the same in January 2025, Newcastle United then didn’t buy anybody this summer up to and including 30 June 2025, the final day of the 2024/25 accounts. I would be amazed if last season’s NUFC accounts don’t show a very positive outcome, especially when it comes to the losses (or profits…) that contribute to the current PSR position.

Once we got to 1 July 2025, the new and current PSR three season Newcastle United situation covers the losses/profits made during 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26. The two serious loss making seasons of 2021/22 and 2022/23 now no longer count towards the current NUFC PSR position.

It doesn’t mean that Newcastle United can now spend whatever they like.

However, it does mean that there is no pressure at all on selling Alexander Isak or any other key player.

It also means that Newcastle United can afford to buy Benjamin Sesko AND add him to Alexander Isak (and Anthony Elanga, Aaron Ramsdale and other signings this transfer window).

Newcastle United have had two big recovery seasons in terms of dealing with their PSR issues and then on top of that we now have a new upcoming season that will have added Champions League money going into the club coffers.

This new positive PSR position also means that Newcastle United can sort a far more lucrative contract for Alexander Isak, which as I explained above, I do expect to happen, with likely to include an acceptance (whether a contract clause or gentleman’s agreement) Isak can leave next summer if that is what he wants to do.

Newcastle United have now recovered from a very bad bout of PSR that lasted a couple of seasons, now fully recovered, a very healthy future now opens up.

Indeed, if Newcastle United are to have the best possible chance of continuing to grow on and off the pitch, this coming season looks pivotal, another qualification for the Champions League, a third in four seasons, would be huge.

Something that would be far more likely to happen in my opinion, if Eddie Howe has Benjamin Sesko AND Alexander Isak to call on this 2025/26 season.