I see it as a potential win/win for Eddie Howe and Newcastle United | OneFootball

It seems a long time since the final ball was kicked last season for Newcastle United against Everton on May 28th 2025.

I remember how I felt.

Despite the defeat I felt elated.

We’d done the unimaginable. Newcastle United had qualified for the Champions League again AND we’d won a trophy.

What could go wrong?

Over the course of the 2024/25 season, I always maintained that if Newcastle United got Champions League qualification, we’d keep our best players. If we failed, regardless of the League Cup win, then we’d be vulnerable to quite a few clubs possibly picking off one or more of our “star” players.

In the scenario where Newcastle United succeeded in ensuring they played in the 2025/26 Champions League, that came with the proviso of UNLESS it was a club that can win things almost at will.

Fast forward to the here and now to the current Alexander Isak conundrum and we have to say, Liverpool are unfortunately one of those clubs.

This summer has been messy thus far. We have lost out on James Trafford to Manchester City, Joao Pedro and Liam Delap to Chelsea, Hugo Ekitike to Liverpool and Brian Mbeumo to Manchester United. The Mbuemo loss is a tough one, as for me it shows the thought process of the player and his agent over football.

But back to the current situation with Alexander Isak. I see it as a potential win/win for Eddie Howe and Newcastle United, IF we recruit right. Let me explain..

First of all, I’m of the opinion that we’re not catching Liverpool this coming season, even WITH Isak in our ranks. And it’s that opinion that is crucial.

We are strongly linked with Yoane Wissa from Brentford who is probably the easier “get” of all the players we’ve been linked with. I can’t imagine how frustrated Eddie Howe must be to see that deal STILL dragging on. Probably the same frustration as on the James Trafford affair but I digress.

Could Eddie Howe resolve the situation with Alexander Isak and convince him to stay? Possibly. Although the PR and groundwork leading up to a fan reconciliation will be tricky. I didn’t personally have a problem with him going away to train at former club Real Sociedad (although Eddie Howe might not take that stance), it’s the “Explore other options” that I feel was ill advised and dare I say it outright reckless. Almost cutting ties with us before that derisory Liverpool bid had even been placed. Surely the Isak camp must have known that it would be hard to come back from that?

Isak himself could decide to dismiss/replace his agent. It would certainly give the impression of being ill-advised and absolve him of blame in the situation IF he is indeed to stay at the club.

Could a new contract solve the crisis?

I’m not so sure.

At the start of this sorry tale there were rumours that Alexander Isak wanted £300k a week, a figure likely to be offered to him at Liverpool and other clubs, but not by us. This was also counter rumoured to have been followed up by us offering to up his wages to £200k a week, an offer which was reportedly rejected. Again, IF you believe the rumours. If that passage of events is true, then I can’t see a new contract resolving things. But if Liverpool don’t follow up on their opening gambit then Isak is in a sticky situation.

Has the lack of anybody in a position of management (other than Eddie Howe) partly engineered the situation towards Alexander Isak and his agent throwing their toys out of the pram? Possibly. Were promises made to Isak that weren’t followed through with? Again, it’s possible. Especially with the likes of Darren Eales and Paul Mitchell leaving the club, the latter of which doesn’t come out of his short time at the club looking like he’s done anything relevant at all other than to destabilise a stable club. As an outsider looking in, I see a transfer policy and plan that worked, which was then criticised by Mitchell.

Was a contract promised and then reneged on? Were assurances made to the Isak party that recruitment would be in overdrive to push for more honours? Again, we don’t know for certain. But Alexander Isak must give the club a bit of slack with the lack of any management at the club. Eddie Howe can’t offer a contract or do ALL the work himself.

But above all this, if Alexander Isak’s mind has been made up and Eddie Howe can’t convince him to stay, fans must prepare themselves for an Isak departure and unpalatable as it could easily be Liverpool and whilst I’d prefer him to go abroad, I don’t see him going to Merseyside as necessarily the end of the world.

As I’ve stated, we aren’t catching Liverpool this season so if Isak were to join their ranks, it would be a case of just “letting them go” this season but with an added bonus.

The stronger they are, the more theoretical damage they could do to OUR rivals in what we would hope to achieve this season. Yes it would make it an uphill task for us in two games domestically (bar cup draws) but if Liverpool could beat teams like Manchester City, Spurs, Arsenal, Villa and Chelsea, not to mention the likes of Brentford, Forest and Brighton, our path to another great league placing could be all the easier.

Am I happy with that situation? No, not at all. Do I believe this has been a concerted campaign to “tap up ” one of our players from both the media and another club? Yes on both counts.

The one thing we CAN’T have, come the start of the season, is an unhappy and uncommitted player. Eddie Howe will demand that and the clock is ticking. There has to be an end game and a cut off of proceedings.

As sure as night follows day, players leave football clubs. One day a player kisses the badge in front of adoring fans, the next day he’s doing the same to check which club he’s now at.

A few scenarios now present themselves and I’m not convinced which will play out.

Newcastle United could sign Yoane Wissa and Benjamin Sesko and that would leave us in a powerful position. We could resolve the Isak situation one way or another and have three centre forwards, or just the two in Wissa and Sesko, but with a very healthy bank balance to strengthen other areas and it’s that outcome I think I’d favour.

Who knew that when Newcastle United sold Andy Cole to Manchester United in 1995 that we’d get Les Ferdinand and then Alan Shearer as well. Not even Kevin Keegan knew. Manchester United were more of a rival to us back then than Liverpool are now, if you subscribe to the opinion that we aren’t catching Liverpool in the immediate present. And I still see echoes of the Cole/Ferdinand progression in the Isak/Wissa turnover if it were to come to pass. Some may see Wissa a retro step but sometimes you can’t always progress at the rate you want.

Wissa is older than Isak, as was Sir Les way back when. But Wissa’s numbers still stack up, as did Ferdinand’s. Not quite as good as Isak’s, neither were Ferdinand’s stats compared to Cole, but that’s the trade off we may have to stomach to get this situation sorted and move on. Get Sesko as well? Now you’re talking.

Bar the Anthony Elanga capture, the sequence of events from Eddie Howe meeting with club officials after that final home game, has been a summer of discontent all told.

But whichever way this pans out, whatever the outcome (and we’ll probably never know fully why this transfer window has been such a fiasco), whichever way Eddie Howe wants to play and conclude it, I’ll back him over rabble rousers in the media, professional disrupters and other clubs upsetting the applecart.