Andy

They needed more than one forward, is all it comes down to I think. I imagine Ekitike was always a target for them, regardless of Isak.

True that, the majority of fans I know in "real life" bought into Pardew's narrative around him.

If he's capable of downing tools now, what makes him incapable of downing tools in the last few games? Even if it was just to avoid injury ahead of a possible move. That's not "cope", it's applying a gained-perspective now that we've learnt that he has that in him.

Hate to break it, but if we're selling him it literally IS because he has downed tools. It's more of a cope to pretend we're selling him because he's always injured.

That still isn't "cope", if anything cope is saying "ahhhh nah he's a good lad, wouldn't down tools, no way" when clearly he is capable of that, as we've now discovered.

In what way? Surely the opposite is true, if he's literally in the process of downing tools right now I'm not sure why it would be "cope" to think he wasn't actually injured and was in fact just putting in half arsed performances towards the end of the season, your logic makes absolutely no sense.

Without going full Tin Foil Hat mode, if he's genuinely gone on strike and faked injury, it almost makes me wonder if his "loss of form" at the end of last season was a coincidence too. Had he already been tapped up then? Failing to qualify for the champions League would've been a great way to knock a few quid off his asking price, after all. Hard not to be cynical when he's willingly fucked our pre season.

The bad news is we've only got time to sign one of them, at the speed we work

Bought into this theory this morning Rich, then our recruitment team went "dunno what about Aaron Ramsdale lol".

This is completely true btw. He is an elite goalscorer, but we spent chunks of last season looking like we were playing with 10 men. I am in the minority in feeling like he is absolutely replaceable with the kind of money being discussed- it's just a shame we can't have confidence in our recruitment team to get the job done.

He used to post on here. He lost his love for the club during the Ashley era iirc.

Craig is just playing the game as they all do. It's all about clicks and engagement. Hate to defend it as it's shite on fans, but it's really the only way for journalists to make a living these days in the current media landscape.

We aren't their priority, their own league is. Our fans need to accept that this will always be the case. That isn't to say we aren't still important to them, but if they have an opportunity to lure a player to their own league, they won't stop for our benefit.

Genuine test for Alex Murphy today on the left, up against the raw force and danger that is Nick Pope's passing.

I don't disagree with that, I'm just saying I don't think him wanting away is purely because Liverpool can offer more money, as others have suggested.

Agree with this. It's surprising that people think this is about wages. Liverpool are arguably the most exciting "project" in Europe right now for a player, you could put PSG in there too obviously, but comparably Liverpool have a vastly richer history to go with it. If we were looking at this from a neutral perspective, it would be surprising if Isak didn't want to go to Liverpool, to be honest.

Surely you'd get some kind of indication from the selling club that they're open to selling before talking to the player and briefing the press?

The league's ridiculous financial setup and the club's transfer strategy (or lack thereof) are both to blame. It isn't one or the other, it's a combination. Both of these things are responsible for the shit show we're seeing at the moment.

The fans wanted communication* *not from Luke Edwards

You telling me Green2025 isn't actually a Newcastle fan who is just absolutely desperate to sell Isak to Liverpool?!

Worst case scenario here is for the club to get into an ego-battle and try to look like we're fighting tooth and nail to keep him, only to then sell him anyway late in the window when he spits his dummy even more.

I think it's a bit of both tbh. He's wanting a move to the league champions who are also one of the favourites to win the champions league; whether we like it or not, Liverpool is a lucrative move for any top player at the moment. It's a combination of ambition and money, neither of which we can currently match. We have grown as a club in his time here, but he has grown as a player at a faster rate unfortunately. Even if we could match his wage demands, there's a good chance he'd still want to leave IMO.

Shite at one on ones, I'm in

This cunt chinned Isak yet?

Thought he was absolute shite at the Euros last summer, that's pretty much all I've seen of him though.