The whole thing is an almighty mess, but somehow, Newcastle have to navigate a way through it. It would help, of course, if they were being run like a functioning Premier League club instead of a Sunday League team, but that seems to be too much to ask for at the minute. “You alright to sort us out a few new players Eddie? Oh, and you’d better coach the team, pick the team and get the lads fit while you’re on. And don’t forget there’s a few of them in there that still haven’t paid their subs.”
You can’t help but feel sorry for Howe, who finds himself at the heart of a maelstrom not of his own making. This was supposed to be a relaxing summer for the Newcastle boss, who don’t forget was hospitalised because of a serious health condition at the back end of last season. Rest and recuperation? More like havoc and hassle.
Howe is having to take the lead on the Isak situation because, with Paul Mitchell not having been replaced as sporting director and Darren Eales waiting to be replaced as chief executive, there is nobody else to do the job. There have been suggestions that Yasir al-Rumayyan will become more personally involved, but with Newcastle’s chairman also heading up Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, you’d imagine his in-tray is full enough already at the minute. Apparently, there’s quite a lot going in the Middle East.
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Howe will have to try to negotiate a route through the current mess, but at the moment, it’s hard to find an obvious exit strategy. Sell Isak? Well, okay, you’ll be raising a hell of a lot of money and completely transforming Newcastle’s PSR position. But you’d also be massively strengthening a rival if he was to join Liverpool and completely demolishing any notion of Newcastle being one of the big boys. Truly ambitious clubs don’t buckle at the first challenge.
You’d also be leaving yourself in a position where it would be devilishly difficult to secure a viable replacement for your best player. Benjamin Sesko? He’d be at the top of the list, but RB Leipzig were going to strike an extremely hard bargain anyway, so you can bet your bottom dollar that their asking price would shoot up even higher if a desperate Newcastle were to come calling. The Magpies can’t get Yoane Wissa out of Brentford for a price they deem to be realistic. What chance of beating Leipzig at the poker table?
Keep Isak instead then. Fine. Problem resolved. But it wouldn’t be, would it? Isak’s head has clearly been turned, and while footballers have been drawn back from the brink before, reintegrating the Swede into the squad would be a devilishly difficult feat to pull off.
It would almost certainly require the signing of a new long-term contract, and as things stand, Newcastle simply cannot afford to offer the kind of sums that Isak and his representatives would be demanding. £300,000-a-week? Good luck with that when the Magpies’ PSR position is so tight. And if Isak is able to double his money, you can be guaranteed Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes’ representatives might well have something to say, not to mention the agents of whoever Newcastle decide to pursue in the next transfer window.
It’s hard to see a way out, so perhaps Howe is better to focus on what he can control, which is Newcastle’s Singapore friendly against Arsenal on Sunday. Not, of course, that anyone will be remotely interested in what happens there when the circus is in full sway back at home.
Howe will have to address the situation publicly over the weekend, but for now, it was left to two of Newcastle’s senior players to discuss Isak as they landed in Singapore earlier this morning.
“He’s (Isak) a good guy,” said club captain Guimares. “He’s been through some rough things at this moment. My focus is with the lads, Isak is something I cannot control. The club has control of it. I hope he’s going to be fit when we come back to Newcastle to prepare for the new season.
“I think if we lost any player it would upset us,” added Dan Burn. “We’re a tight-knit group that’s been together for two, three years now so, yeah, any player that leaves it doesn’t help. But, from our point of view, we’ll control what we can control. At the moment, we’re looking forward to getting Alex back when he’s fit.”