Alexander Isak

[KennyUtd]

1 minute ago, tarie4 said:

Yeah, that and a bit more cash will do it.

 

We can't say he's worth north of £100m and then pay him like he's only worth £60m.

Definitely. Pay him top money for another 2 years and sell him then. He'll be 27 and possibly at his peak. A win for everyone. 

[Ronaldo]

2 hours ago, Chris_R said:

 

Agree with this. But he's also really intelligent. Not saying any of our players aren't, but Bruno and even Tonali are governed by passion when they speak whereas Isak isn't the Iceman just in front of goal, he's incredibly measured and thoughtful when speaking too so even if he did love the club and want to stay forever, he's never going to say as much because that takes away bargaining power when it comes to contract renewals etc. Which leads me to the below...

 

 

Absolutely nothing in there at all. It's a waste of words. He's never going to say he hates it here and wants to leave, and is desperate to go to Liverpool or Madrid or wherever, no player will ever say that. But on the flip side he's also not said explicitly "I love it here and want to stay". His words are VERY carefully chosen - "It's been written how much I love the city and club" is very different to "I really love the city and club". He hasn't said "I want to stay" or "I want to sign a new contract", he's just said "I feel incredibly comfortable" and "The only focus I have is on playing". 

 

He's ice cold. There's very little emotion there. Every word is picked with care and all he's actually said is that he's not agitating to leave, which tells us nothing because no player would tell the press that anyway even if he had his bags packed behind closed doors.

 

That said I absolutely love seeing him play for us and hope he stays for many years to come. But it's new contract this year or, sadly, he'll have to be sold next summer IMO.

Good post.

[Chris_R]

1 hour ago, tarie4 said:

Alexander Isak speaks out on his future after Arsenal, Man Utd & Tottenham links:

 

"Yeah, of course I want to be here in the future," he told @MsiDouglas.

 

"I came here for the project, I absolutely love playing here, I really feel at home."

 

Guess there is nothing there also?

 

Without seeing the question he was asked and the wider conversation it was part of, no that also tells us nothing. People are often selectively quoted, entirely misquoted, or fed leading questions. 

 

If the question was "Do you want to be here in the future?", which makes sense because it looks like it was at least a variant of that based on the start of his answer, then what follows is meaningless because the only alternative answer is "No I don't want to be here in the future" and absolutely no player (with a functioning brain) is ever going to say that.

 

If he was just chatting generally and said how much he was looking forward to signing a new contract without being asked anything, that would have value. This doesn't because there isn't an alternative answer he could have given without torpedoing his relationship with the fans, which he won't do because he's too professional and knows that he may well have to stay here at least another year.

 

It's like being in your 1-1 at work and your boss asking your goals for the next 12 months. Nobody (again, with a functioning brain) says "well I'm jobhunting at the moment and hope to be out of here ASAP", you answer the question positively because you've got to cover all bases in case you don't leave. But similarly nobody should read that 1-1 and say "Look he loves it here!".

[Sibierski]

Is Isak really being slagged off because he hasn’t come out and said he bleeds black and white?  

 

We don’t deserve nice things.

[tarie4]

20 minutes ago, Chris_R said:

 

Without seeing the question he was asked and the wider conversation it was part of, no that also tells us nothing. People are often selectively quoted, entirely misquoted, or fed leading questions. 

 

If the question was "Do you want to be here in the future?", which makes sense because it looks like it was at least a variant of that based on the start of his answer, then what follows is meaningless because the only alternative answer is "No I don't want to be here in the future" and absolutely no player (with a functioning brain) is ever going to say that.

 

If he was just chatting generally and said how much he was looking forward to signing a new contract without being asked anything, that would have value. This doesn't because there isn't an alternative answer he could have given without torpedoing his relationship with the fans, which he won't do because he's too professional and knows that he may well have to stay here at least another year.

 

It's like being in your 1-1 at work and your boss asking your goals for the next 12 months. Nobody (again, with a functioning brain) says "well I'm jobhunting at the moment and hope to be out of here ASAP", you answer the question positively because you've got to cover all bases in case you don't leave. But similarly nobody should read that 1-1 and say "Look he loves it here!".

I think you're overthinking this. He was asked about his future, and he answered. I could also argue he could have dodged the question and said something like, "I'm focused on the next game and the rest of the season, thats where my attention is at the moment."

Even when asked about his future in national duty with Sweden he did say that.

"There's not much to say, really. I've commented on my situation and my security in Newcastle several times.

 

"it's been written how much love the city and the club, how well I feel there. I'm not thinking about the future"

 

As a fan, I couldn't ask for more from a player.

 

However just because he says he loves it here doesn't mean he won't get sold, but it does mean he won't push for a move (hand in a transfer request). I'm pretty sure Isak won't do that.

Bruno said he loved it here and wanted to stay, but if Man City triggered his release clause, he'd have left last summer.

 

[Chris_R]

22 minutes ago, Sibierski said:

Is Isak really being slagged off because he hasn’t come out and said he bleeds black and white?  

 

We don’t deserve nice things.

 

I'm certainly not slagging him off, quite the reverse he's being really clever about how he answers questions. I'm just saying what he's said can't be taken the way some are trying to take it.

 

He's being asked "are you happy here?", and is replying "yes I'm happy here". That tells us nothing. What else could be possibly say? In what world does he say "no"?

[tarie4]

39 minutes ago, Sibierski said:

Is Isak really being slagged off because he hasn’t come out and said he bleeds black and white?  

 

We don’t deserve nice things.

Nah, we don't. Last summer, there where rumours saying we offered him to Liverpool and that Arsenal were preparing a bid and how he idolisd Henry and supported Arsenal, remember? Then he piped up and said...

 "The only thing I can say is that a lot of information and rumours often come out. Much of what I read is not true. So that’s about all I can say about the whole thing."

 

So, someone's saying we shouldn't believe that, and they're being clever, huh?

 

 

If he signs a new contract (which i think he will), does an interview, and says he loves it here—again—should we think he's being clever?

We really dont deserve nice things.

[Gawalls]

1 hour ago, Sibierski said:

Is Isak really being slagged off because he hasn’t come out and said he bleeds black and white?  

 

We don’t deserve nice things.

“Isak is the ice cold intelligent professional with every answer thought out” - yeah I can’t believe he’s getting slagged off like that /s.  This was us saying (or at least me) saying I think he’ll  leave as he has higher ambitions and nothing I’ve heard proves otherwise to me. That’s all I said and Chris-r posts were very articulate and well written, nobody slagged him off - not even once.