TRon

No fucker will actually pay that much for either though.

Even if you consider that PIF enthusiasm for the project has cooled off a bit - and with the amount of roadblocks put in front of them by the cartel funded PL authorities I can understand tbh - I still don't see who else will come in and be willing to spend the sort of money we are talking about to fire Newcastle into the highest echelons of world football. Which other owner do you see spending £1billion on a new stadium?

I think with 40 plus games next season we would have no problem giving enough games to both Isak and Ekitike even if we just rotated them as strikers.

I don't think Howe would want to sell either of his biggest assets which are Isak and Gordon. For me buying Ekitike is insurance against losing either one if a club like Liverpool try to unsettle them. It's not like we've got a massive squad, we can definitely have all of them on our books for a season with a view to selling lesser players like Longstaff or Barnes to offset the Ekitike fee.

I think Liverpool would rather have Isak. They might think it's worth letting Ekitike come to Newcastle in the hope that improves their chances of getting Isak.

I didn't believe the links initially, but we are in a great position to actually do this, or even sell other players to keep on the right side of the PSR line. Would be mad seeing us line up with both Ekitike and Isak for a season.

Yeah that's what I meant.

We could keep them both and then sell Isak next summer tbf.

I kind of liked him as a player even before we found out about his personality tbh. Two footed, and he has the confidence to ping in crosses first time instead of taking the extra touch someone like Murphy needs. Minteh has that as well but he's a lot less polished.

This is Howe though. Someone who has ultimate faith in his own judgement on a player.

If we sell Isak or Gordon to Liverpool I imagine. Depends if Isak's head's been turned.

We should be under no illusions that they bought NUFC to raise Saudi Arabia's profile first and foremost, and put themselves on the map in world football. Personally I was ok with that because we would be the benificiaries of it the same way Man City and Chelsea were with their owners. If they haven't been able to pour money into the squad and build a world leading team, it's because the cartel clubs have gone all in on stopping them doing that. PIF had to sign off waivers to even buy into the PL. They could build a new stadium which might lift us a notch in PL big boy status in 10 years time, but they probably wanted to be able to build a world class team much sooner. There's probably a load of other roads they can go down to invest money and get an instant return.

Exactly. I was never under any illusion that PIF were going to ever put Newcastle ahead of their own interests, but NUFC being successful is very much in their interests. It's the PL and their cartel paymasters who are the obstacle.

Saudi Arabia was always the priority for them.

If that's true then these rumours that we are interested are probably bollocks anyway.

On the plus side, that will at least mean they can't be voted down in the resolutions designed to block them spending.

Gallagher comes into the same bracket as Ekitike. You have to consider we might go for it simply because Howe has a long standing interest in the player. Although you would have thought we'd have gone for it when he was trying to leave Chelsea.

I think any chance of signing Ekitike went when we first tried to sign him, but tbf Howe tends to back his own judgement on a player, and he clearly rated him.

Why do you guys do this to yourselves?

Spurs is definitely the right club for him then.

Not sure about that like.

FFS.

Newcastle Airport is actually further into Northumberland than even Newcastle. It's on our side of the Tyne Bridge. Why don't they build an airport on fucking Wearside if it burns them that much? There's plenty of wastelands between them and Middlesbrough surely?

We definitely need another proven striker to come in to add some much needed competition for Isak. Doesn't have to be a big name necessarily, just someone who can do the job no questions asked. I know it's not going to happen because of the age thing, but Wissa would have been perfect.