Yoane Wissa

[Kid Icarus]

3 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd, Man City and Spurs have all sold players between them in recent times - some more incendiary than others, but they’ve all done it.  I can remember Barcelona selling their best player to Real Madrid (Figo). 
 

Liverpool have acted like complete cunts here, so I totally understand not wanting to sell to them on that basis (and they seem to have bid well below Isak’s value).  But if Liverpool bid £150m+ I’d have zero fucks to give at this point - I’m happy to trust Howe to use that headroom wisely (though we’d have to remember how to actually sign players!).  I always assumed that - due to PSR - most of the players signed in the last three years would be flipped for profit and weren’t here for the long haul. 

None of them were their best players. Van Persie is the last one you can think of - Man United won the league, Arsenal entered their banter era.

 

The likes of Suarez, Coutinho, Kane, Modric, Ronaldo all had their antics to force moves to domestic rivals met with a firm no before being sold abroad.

 

I should say it's not that it's Liverpool. If it was Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal etc I'd be the same. The fact Liverpool have acted like cunts AND bought our #1 replacement is just added incentive to not sell to them. They've completely rag-dolled us in front of the world and we've accepted it despite being in a strong position. 

[joeyt]

28 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

It was a 5 to 10 year goal coming up to 4 years ago.

 

 

 

 

That goal was set before the PSR ramifications was set in place though?

 

Seems a bit harsh to judge them on that quote 4 years ago when the league has subsequently done a lot to dampen our ambitions 

[Abacus]

Klopp certainly thought we were rivals when he started waffling on about ceilings through his ridiculous teeth. If nothing else, we're a rival to them in the CL and the cups. All other clubs are rivals now. That's sport.

 

Not selling Isak to them for well under his real value this summer must be a statement of intent from us. Gouge them for him and then, reluctantly, fine.

[Kid Icarus]

1 minute ago, joeyt said:

 

That goal was set before the PSR ramifications was set in place though?

 

Seems a bit harsh to judge them on that quote 4 years ago when the league has subsequently done a lot to dampen our ambitions 

They were there already, it was APT that changed but it's a fair point. I still can't accept the domestic part of this, if this was Barca, Real or PSG I think we'd all drive Isak to the airport on our backs at this point.

[Nobody]

43 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Then every team we play each week are our rivals.

 

There’s fuck all rivalry with Liverpool. 

Certainly felt like our rivals when we beat them to the CL two years ago then.

[sixx]

I’m very unsure Wissa would want to come here to play second fiddle to Sesko or Isak. Not at this stage in his career and Brentford can probably match what we offer him in wages.

 

How we are not being linked with some young strikers from abroad or the championship is beyond me. 

[Andy84]

Just now, Nobody said:

Certainly felt like our rivals when we beat them to the CL two years ago then.

And a major domestic honour at Wembley 4 months ago 

[TheBrownBottle]

Just now, Kid Icarus said:

None of them were their best players. Van Persie is the last one you can think of - Man United won the league, Arsenal entered their banter era.

 

The likes of Suarez, Coutinho, Kane, Modric, Ronaldo all had their antics to force moves to domestic rivals met with a firm no before being sold abroad.

 

I should say it's not that it's Liverpool. If it was Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal etc I'd be the same. The fact Liverpool have acted like cunts AND bought our #1 replacement is just added incentive to not sell to them. They've completely rag-dolled us in front of the world and we've accepted it despite being in a strong position. 

I don’t disagree tbh - Liverpool have absolutely mugged us off.  I’d much rather sell him abroad - but you need interest and money to do that, and there hasn’t been a squeak of interest.  

 

The problem is that due to PSR, to catch up we need to sell players for big money.  We’re further behind the ‘big six’ financially than we were when the takeover happened - and I don’t think that relying on Howe nailing it season after season can be taken for granted.  Those six English clubs make up six of the top ten richest clubs in the world - so if you’re selling a really top player, then there’s a better than even chance that it’s going to be to another English club. 

[TheBrownBottle]

9 minutes ago, Abacus said:

Klopp certainly thought we were rivals when he started waffling on about ceilings through his ridiculous teeth. If nothing else, we're a rival to them in the CL and the cups. All other clubs are rivals now. That's sport.

 

Not selling Isak to them for well under his real value this summer must be a statement of intent from us. Gouge them for him and then, reluctantly, fine.

He didn’t think we were rivals, he thought we were a threat - mostly because he understands football but appears to have known fuck all about FFP

[Gawalls]

5 minutes ago, sixx said:

I’m very unsure Wissa would want to come here to play second fiddle to Sesko or Isak. Not at this stage in his career and Brentford can probably match what we offer him in wages.

 

How we are not being linked with some young strikers from abroad or the championship is beyond me. 

Is it his going on strike, flying home early from their training camp or demanding meetings with their chairman and refusing to train or play in the friendly or even turn up when he reportedly only lives four miles away after Eddie Howe came out and said he’s not a replacement for Isak but more for Wilson that makes you think he won’t be happy fighting for a place alongside Isak? Again he’s apparently played for 28 grand a week and done it for years and now has a chance at both CL football and in front of our crowds.

 

 

Edited August 3, 2025 by Gawalls

[DevonGeordie]

7 minutes ago, sixx said:

I’m very unsure Wissa would want to come here to play second fiddle to Sesko or Isak. Not at this stage in his career and Brentford can probably match what we offer him in wages.

 

How we are not being linked with some young strikers from abroad or the championship is beyond me. 

Considering Isak is fucked after 60 minutes he’d be playing quite a bit, plus early rounds of carabao and FA and some of the “easier” champions league ties; he’d play a shit load.

 

Probably similar to how much game time Wilson got the season 22/23 with champions league on top.

[Gawalls]

1 minute ago, DevonGeordie said:

Considering Isak is fucked after 60 minutes he’d be playing quite a bit, plus early rounds of carabao and FA and some of the “easier” champions league ties; he’d play a shit load.

 

Probably similar to how much game time Wilson got the season 22/23 with champions league on top.

More I reckon- if Howe had a proven pl goalscorer to bring on and rotate worth he’d use it more I reckon.

[Sibierski]

The only caveat to us wanting to get this done in next 72 hours is because Sesko deal looks unlikely and we in absolutely NO circumstances can be lining up Sela weekend without a striker. 
 

It’s indicative of our fucking piss poor window we potentially have to go back in for this guy, pay the price and thrash it out. So we can get some fucking striker in and then can start looking at CB / CM, (CB of which I’m about 10% confident we will get one).
 

Ramsdale (loan), CM, Elanga, Wissa

 

That could be our summer ffs   

[OpenC]

I don't understand how Liverpool aren't our rivals when we're playing in all the same competitions and they're desperate to sign one of our players like

 

We won the league cup, we've got some world class talent, we qualified for the CL two years out of three, we appear to be at the very least There Or Thereabouts.

 

Honestly lads if we've got to be owned by a hideous world power the least we can do is try to ditch the false modesty and inferiority complexes and try to play along

[Sibierski]

All for best part of £140m+ too. 
 

No wonder Mitchell fucked off.

[Gawalls]

1 minute ago, OpenC said:

I don't understand how Liverpool aren't our rivals when we're playing in all the same competitions and they're desperate to sign one of our players like

 

We won the league cup, we've got some world class talent, we qualified for the CL two years out of three, we appear to be at the very least There Or Thereabouts.

 

Honestly lads if we've got to be owned by a hideous world power the least we can do is try to ditch the false modesty and inferiority complexes and try to play along

Can we drop this now please and pretty pretty please have one thread not talking about Liverpool or Isak? I genuinely come into this thread to escape that.

[Zero]

I won’t call Liverpool rivals. I would call them enemies.

 

 

Edited August 3, 2025 by Zero

[OpenC]

1 minute ago, Gawalls said:

Can we drop this now please and pretty pretty please have one thread not talking about Liverpool or Isak? I genuinely come into this thread to escape that.

 

We're all just having to pick our way around it everywhere man. It's because we're world class now, that sort of discussion is going to pervade things  

[Unbelievable]

52 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

 

That's the unfortunate truth of it. I've yet to see any meaningful strategy where we can break out of the shackles in the short term. My only hope is that City winning their case opens the door to some APT sponsorships which are currently illegal. Otherwise it's a long haul of selling players, building a new stadium and having the best manager every step of the way. 

I agree, but it’s selling the right players at the right time. Selling Isak now is neither the right player nor the right time, nor is selling to Liverpool the right move. It’s not the right player because we cannot replace him without risking serious repercussions to our upcoming season, where the aim should be to once again challenge for CL and go deep in the CL we qualified for to maximise revenue and exposure. It’s also not the right time, because we have time on our side. Isak is only 25, has three years left on his contract and prices continue to go up. There is every chance we’ll get more PSR toom from selling him next year, even if only because his remaining book value will have dropped by another 12m by then, ergo even if price remains the same our profit increases by waiting another year. Finally, selling to Liverpool is definitely not the right move. Our stated ambition is to challenge them, which is not going to be achieved by being coerced into selling them our best players.

 

There is no reason whatsoever to feel pressured into selling unless someone puts in an offer way above our valuation for him that mitigates all of the above.

[Abacus]

35 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

He didn’t think we were rivals, he thought we were a threat - mostly because he understands football but appears to have known fuck all about FFP

What's the difference?

[Heron]

1 hour ago, Kid Icarus said:

Our ability to sign players probably makes it moot anyway, but even if we strengthen our squad we still weaken the club.

 

Every player and agent will know that players can kick up a fuss and we'll fold.

 

Every club will know they can unsettle our players and we'll fold.

 

Everyone will know that we're so weak that not only will we sell you one of our best players, not only will we do it AFTER you've signed our #1 replacement for that player, but we'll scurry around trying to make the deal work for you when we desperately need that time and resource to sign other players.

 

I can't describe it any other way than this - at the moment we're Reek from Game of Thrones. Come on in Liverpool! Take what we have, take what we want, and have us still be your slave.

 

Someone else said it the other day -Want to be a big club? Act like one.

Totally see your points on all of this but previously 'big clubs' haven't had to deal with financial fair play and PSR and all that shite to unlock their capability to spend.

 

If we keep Isak for 3 years and still aren't winning the league at that point (which I appreciate is chicken and egg) then he goes for nothing and a £150m asset is lost for nothing.

 

If we improve our squad depth I'd argue we have equal cabality of achieving CL status again this next season. With just Isak, we run the risk of him being injured (either actually or feigning), his attitude not being right and/or him simply getting burn out from the fixtures.

 

The one alternative to all of this, is that we invest and bolster the squad on top of Isak. Which is where we've really fucked up. If we did that earlier in the window I suspect this predicament is either avoided or is just put to bed.

 

I feel that (as Ambrose said) if we say "we will reconsider your sale next season" it at least helps motivate the player more than outright saying "No". However, it would perhaps plant the seed in other players minds if we don't achieve as we'd expect.

 

Honestly though, I feel the FFP/PSR stuff continuously fucks anyone wanting to break the 'big 6' and that mould. You look at even Isak potentially wanting a new and more expensive contract and it's not just a case of "Newcastle have the richest owners in the world, just give him it" it's "if we give Isak x more then does that impact our ability to buy y".

 

I get that's natural anyways financially, but it wouldn't be for us such is our owners wealth. Historically, that hasn't applied to the likes of Chelsea and Man City. Because of that, we're in a position trying to evaluate the greater goods rather than simply getting just what we want.

 

With FFP/PSR selling Isak could unlock 2/3 years worth of serious investment as I understand it and our capability to perform across multiple tournaments. That's why for me - we must keep him this season - so that both he and Liverpool don't win (assuming all that's been said is true), we buy ourselves time to identify our targets and line up deals, and if we can get them I this summer or even in January great, but if not we're ready to hit the ground running next summer and the message is clear to everyone "we sell on our terms", whilst hopefully maximising the sale of an asset.

[TheBrownBottle]

5 minutes ago, Abacus said:

What's the difference?

Rivalry suggests competition on an ongoing basis.  Klopp never spoke about us like this again after that, most likely once he realised we weren’t the threat that he initially thought we were. 

[Gawalls]

I had dandelion and burdock for the first time in years last night and really enjoyed it.

[Heron]

Just now, Gawalls said:

I had dandelion and burdock for the first time in years last night and really enjoyed it.

There are a lot of dandelions this year. I literally said this to the Mrs in the last 5mins.

[madras]

Just now, Gawalls said:

I had dandelion and burdock for the first time in years last night and really enjoyed it.

Had an alcoholic one the other night. 3.4% and tasted just like the pop.