Shak

Was it not widely speculated that Isak was their first choice target and they’d move on to Ekitike if we didn’t play ball? Or do we not believe that?

I wouldn’t be anywhere near as upset about this if we seemed like we had any sort of clue what we are at in the transfer market. We could have had Ekitike as a replacement, probably should have checked at the time if Isak wanted to go.

Wissa would be a bit underwhelming after the Pedro and Ekitike links but had you told us at the start of the summer we would sign Wissa and a big money RW then people would have been very pleased, surely? Having a good CF who can come off the bench for the last 20 minutes of games when Isak runs out of gas will be huge for us. Last season, when Wilson came on the best case scenario was that he would be completely shite. Even when Isak was having a horrible game it was probably better to just leave him on, with Wissa there’s a chance he can positively impact the game replacing Alex. There’s also the option of them playing together for the last half hour of games. Still remember how devastating it was two seasons ago when we would have one of Wilson/Isak start and then the other would come on for the last half hour and Isak would go left and Wilson CF. Was lethal. He’s also comfortable playing wide by all accounts so it’s more versatile depth. Hope we can get it done.

There were definitely stories about Eddie loving Osimhen a couple of years ago. Haven’t seen any indications he’s on our list this year though.

Wissa as the cheaper versatile striker option and then spunk the savings on an aggressive push for Dibling.

Definitely disappointed as I would have loved Ekitike here but if it takes Liverpool out of the Isak market for this and next summer it will be great for us. Guess the question will be whether they would be looking at Ekitike as someone who can play with Isak, rather than just as the alternative to him. We clearly have designs on pairing them up, so Liverpool potentially could too. That would definitely suck

Decent Twitter handle tbf.

I do think decades from now we’ll look back on the last few seasons as the good old days. That journey from the takeover to winning a trophy with an imperfect but utterly lovable team is going to be hard to top for sheer emotion. It’s a pity for Sean his last few months he struggled so much on the pitch, the team has very clearly outgrown him and it’s been frustrating watching him at times. But he was a good member of the team for so long and lived the dream of so many. He’ll be fondly remembered for sure.

It would certainly be quite the statement of intent from us and could potentially take us to another level if he turns out to be the player we think he could. Insulates us a bit against Isak leaving next summer, means we have a star CF already in the squad and then a huge pile of Isak money to spend without a gaping hole there at the position. And maybe, just maybe, bringing in players of this quality also makes Isak think that Newcastle is the place he can achieve everything he wants to in the sport and doesn’t need to move. I don’t know how feasible it is financially, but I would have thought that there’s scope to be aggressive? Our 23/24 figure is pretty healthy from the Anderson and Minteh sales and that figure will still be part of the calculations next summer. I’d be surprised if we are in any sort of dire PSR situation until June 2027.

I’m very much in on buying an absolute superstar striker and essentially playing 4-4-2 a lot next season. Bruno and Sandro running the show in the middle allowing a front four of Gordon, Elanga, Isak and Ekitike to have the absolute craic up front would be fucking immense to watch. There’ll of course be games where we want a bit more presence in midfield and would go back to the 4-3-3 but aye, let’s have some fucking fun.

Aye he’ll be hoping to move on to bigger and better things, you’d imagine.

The real sign of intent to sign a forward is being linked with four of them IMO.

My main concern with DCL will be the contract length. As an addition to the squad over the next couple of years, I think he’d be fairly decent as a backup CF and target man type to give us something a bit different. The injuries are a real concern, but on a free it’s mitigated somewhat. My worry though is he gets a four or five year deal on a hefty wage and in a couple of years he’s just dead weight that we could do without.

@Shays Given Tim Flowers

The most interesting part of the RW signing being Elanga would be that it’s basically a long term commitment to the idea of not having an inverted winger on both sides. Elanga as first choice and Murphy as backup for the foreseeable future, with Gordon/Barnes being used there occasionally too. Would explain us being so all in on Elanga, as the vast majority of RW options out there are left footed and would require a pivot away from something that was so incredibly effective last season with Murphy in the spot. It’s not what I was expecting to be honest but at this point Eddie has earned total buy in if this is who he wants. Given how productive Murphy was in the position last year, I’d expect some pretty good numbers from Elanga next year if he is the one we end up with.

@Shays Given Tim Flowers the call is from redemption, will you accept the charges?

Aye, massively over the line from Interpolic that and I hope there’ll be action taken.

Disappointing as he was clearly going to be a big part of Eddie’s plans and maybe evolve the way we play to some extent in the coming season. Hard to blame him, really. Seven year deal means he’s basically locked into a wonderful wage for the entire prime of his career. Decent chance he steps up quickly and establishes himself as a central figure for them and if not he’ll end up with a nice loan move to Italy or Spain when Chelsea move on to the next shiny object in a couple of years. I hope it all goes very poorly for him, in any case. I guess we’ll see how well prepared we are for the summer now, feels like a really big target has got away from us and the recruitment team will hopefully show that they have other quality options in the pipeline.

You taken the kids out of school to follow the thread today?

Apologies. I like how the hair is the line I can’t cross

He’s basically the Steve Parish of the league. Same hair and all.

I’ll be quite disappointed if we haven’t brought in our CB and RW in time for the start of pre-season. They’re the spots that we’re buying what should be immediate first choice players, you want them starting pre season training and bedding in with the team as soon as possible. We know Eddie has a very high standard for fitness before he is comfortable throwing players in there to start, it’s not a disaster but it’s hardly ideal having our key additions starting off a bit behind the others.

Barring a massive injury crisis, he won’t play almost any football next season. In a PSR world, I don’t really see the sense in keeping him around to be an extra unused bench option over trying to get something for him now.

Gonna need you to show your work on this, please.

Elanga would be interesting as it would seemingly be a commitment to playing a right footed player on the right you’d imagine, Elanga becoming first choice with Murphy his backup. I did feel at times last year we were a 4-3-3/4-4-1-1 hybrid with Joelinton almost serving as the wide left option while Gordon/Barnes were almost playing just off Isak. You could see it in our defensive shape quite well, operated as two banks of four with our LW having a lot less responsibility than Murphy had. I’d personally prefer to stick with the 4-3-3 and buy a left footed player for the RW but just a thought.