Unbelievable

Good, don’t want him.

Sure! I can fly in on the Friday. It’s the return leg that’s the (potential) problem

No thanks

I’ve been checking flights, which will be the biggest thing I have to work around here. Looks like last flight back to Amsterdam on the Sunday departs at 17:30, which means if I want to take in the actual football at SJP I’ll need it to be an early kickoff. As I understood from Yorkie our game’s KO time should be known shortly after August 29, so I’ll be a TBC until then I’m afraid.

Aye, should have signed DCL and be done with it.

You don’t have to get to bidding stage to be politely told no chance. Think it’s safe to assume we at least enquired about Huijsen, Mbuemo and Delap. Guehi who knows if we’ve tried again for him. Kudus there were some rumours, but personally don’t believe he he was an option. Could easily add Cunha though. It’s been a brutal window of mostly rejection and disappointment.

Agreed. If, as expected, we lose out on Sesko just tell Isak to prepare to meet his contractual obligations, try and get Wissa signed and move to more urgent matters asap.

so desperate

Good thing they’re wise to it. Genuinely believe there has been a concerted effort by some teams to frustrate our summer transfer plans. Liverpool’s interest in Isak could also be just that. Their first offer, then pretending to pull out and face turn within 24 hours certainly points to that.

Sadly for him and his agent he doesn’t really have a say in the matter now, does he? I don’t know which bit part player or member of the technical team you are getting your itk stuff from, but I seriously doubt they’re dealing directly with the Reubens and PIF people st the club who will ultimately make the decision based on what’s best for the club, not what’s best for Isak or his rotten agent.

I would expect there to be some frustration, which is why Howe would likely drop him from the first XI early doors, but ultimately we would be a better team with him and I’m sure all our players know that. Nothing time and a bit of Howe magic couldn’t heal.

Will you stop already? They made an offer last week and were surprised by the quick and firm no they received. There’s no way they are dumb enough to come back with the same or even a lower bid, and even if they were, there’s even less chance or us not laughing them out of town even more decisively than last time.

Then we sell another one of our prized assets, or we take the hit on a points deduction. Jezus, we cannot fear of the worst case scenario let dictate our strategy if we are to make inroads into catching up with these teams that think they can have a free run at our best players by turning their heads promising salaries we aren't allowed to offer.

Fair enough mate. Just surprised any Newcastle fan would paint PIF giving Liverpool the money to buy Isak of us as "ideal scenario". Sounds like the sort of thing I'd expect to read on rawk.

Why would he do that when it's not unlikely that the likes of Barcelona and Munich will be on the market by then to replace their aging number nines?

You really are odd. Are you sure you're even a Newcastle fan?

We most definitely would. Keeping Isak here for another year, allowing us to go deep in the CL with the xtra revenue that generates, and waiting for a better market for Isak next year is absolutely the right thing to do if the alternative is, as you present, to be pressured by fucking Liverpool into a coward's decision to cash out at below the value we esteem him to be worth and at the start of the PSR cycle rather than at the end of it. Keep Isak, get a CB and CM in from the proceeds of his June sale and see us challenge on all fronts please. It's time to gamble big and give these "big six" cunts a real scare.

I'd expect Liverpool to know the current PSR cycle runs until the end of June 2026, so if they come in offering even a penny below asking price they should expect an even quicker and firmer response than the one that took them aback last time out.

Even if true, it's abundantly clear his agent is agitating for a move. I'd be surprised if the cunt wasn't at Anfield tonight sniveling around the directors' boxes trying to see if he could find anybody willing to help seal the deal that would make him a few million.

It’s not the recruitment team’s job to communicate with supporters. As for explaining the project, let’s be realistic and admit that no amount of talking up a project can compete with signing for a club already at the level where the project is trying to get to for double the money. We face an uphill battle when competing with the likes of Chelsea, City and Liverpool. We are closing the gap, but for now more often than not we may expect to lose out going up against them directly for a player. As Yorkie pointed out, it was right to try anyway, and now is the time to change tactics and perhaps take a few calculated risks. None of that makes it justifiable to diminish the club’s efforts so far imo. It’s just judging based solely on results based on unrealistic expectations if you expect our negotiators to sway top players towards joining us on half the wages they can make elsewhere solely by “selling the project”.

What is that bit in bold supposed to mean? We offered the right amount for Trafford and Joao Pedro only for richer clubs to come in after we had done all the footwork and blow us out of the water with much higher wages we cannot afford on account of the rules they voted in to protect their domination. We could be aiming lower or take more risks on more unproven players, and I’d prefer us to go down that road personally, but that could evidently backfire as well. Our recruitment team’s problem is that we are angling for the same targets as the big clubs we compete with, but we are restricted in the gear we may use. By all means be frustrated by the situation, but aim your ire at the PL and the rulemakers, not the people who are working tirelessly to help our club progress.

Fine, he doesn’t have to sign it if he’s not willing to commit his future in order to earn what he believes he’s worth. I’d suggest that a 200m release clause for one of the best forwards in world football isn’t that far fetched though. In fact it’s what PSG did with Neymar 8 years ago already, with most clauses in Spanish football already eclipsing that nowadays.