Newcastle must get over unavoidable transfer hijacks and inevitable Isak sale to ‘stupid’ Liverpool

Newcastle supporters really must get over themselves and ‘take the money out of Liverpool’s stupid hands’ for a grossly overpriced Alexander Isak.

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Newcastle fans need to calm down
The entirety of last week has been filled with angry and moaning Newcastle fans about how their club has been beaten to transfer targets etc. It’s absolute nonsense.

Even in the heyday of Sir Alex, we were beaten to multiple first choice targets like Moura, Hazard & even had our talents have their head turned like Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez etc. There is no club in the world immune to this. Stop acting if Newcastle are being taken advantage of. It’s the way of the footballing world. You win some, you lose some. You were more than blessed to have Tonali, Isak, Bruno etc come in when you had nothing going for you other than throwing money! You weren’t too worried then were ya?

Also, Isak is nowhere worth 150m or 130m. Bloody take the money out of Liverpool’s stupid hands. Your entire club was bought for 300m a few years ago. This is like hitting the jackpot. Even with Isak there is a zero chance you have of winning the CL or being top 4/5 next season. ZERO. So just sell him, get in 3 players who can help your squad long  term. Mateta for 40m, defender for 40m, mid for 40m. Extra 10m to burn on whatever you want!! Build your club long term like Liverpool did.

And losing out on Sesko to United. I am a United fan and I don’t even think that the 70-80m we are paying is worth it. We beat City to sign Maguire and Fred, we beat many teams to sign Yoro, we beat many teams tso sign Pogba etc etc. Look at where that has led us to. FIFTEENTH!!!  Liverpool signed exactly ZERO players and won the title.

Can you assure me hand on your heart, that with the 3 targets United beat Newcastle to (Cunha, Sesko, Mbuemo), they will finish above a Isak-less Newcastle! No you cannot, even I cannot! Then why cry about it so much?!

Please understand, every club is a feeder club in this world (Apart  from Madrid maybe). There is no shame in losing out to a few targets, there is no guarantee they will be a success. There is no shame in cashing out on your biggest asset and rebuilding long term. It’s the smart thing to do. It’s what Liverpool did, it’s what Barcelona did.

Be happy at least someone is ready to buy your players. Look at United, 300-400 million worth of useless players just rotting the entire place out. Look at Arsenal, a billion spent and won as much as you lot have won in 6 years. The stupidest thing Newcastle can do is not sell Isak. They need to sell him for 130+ add ons, and build their club to compete long term. Have realistic targets. Don’t be how United were with Kroos, De Jong and more & end up with Fellaini. That’s the only advice I can give out.

Regards
Aman

Welcome everyone, Thursday morning mailbox shows what makes me glued to the mailbox for the past 15 years. I can skip articles, features, mediawatch and so on but this line from James Leeds…

“And we have a recruitment team that would struggle to sell water to a man lost in the desert.”

It makes me visit mailbox everyday and these words from a Newcastle fan give me joy. These words throw tribalism out of the window.

Mudashiru, Ibadan 

James, Leeds is quite right in most of what he has to say about Newcastle, but I’d offer a couple of notes.

First,  I suspect that Anthony Elanga is a lot less excited than he was when he signed.

Second, I think the problem isn’t so much incompetent management but the utter absence of management. Through 2023, NUFC’s transfer activity was widely considered astute and decisive. Ashworth and (especially) Mitchell were catastrophes; meanwhile, CEO Darren Eales is being treated for what I gather is leukemia and can hardly provide effective leadership.

NUFC need a CEO and a general manger/sporting and it’s astounding that no replacements have been named in all this time; the buck, as we say in the US, stupid with the board.

We’re supposedly close to naming successors for Eales and Ashworth. It’s too little, too late for a season in which we had hoped to clear the group stage of the UCL. And top ten is looking like a stretch goal at the moment, especially until we get another CB.

Erik, Los Angels CA is utterly wrong though, when he says Liverpool are doing nothing indecent. Eric knows as well as the rest of us that Liverpool used whispers to journalists to unsettle Isak and (particularly, I expect) his agent. We all know that Barca and Real do that all the time, but it’s still against the rules.

Plus that “sell us Isak, or we’re taking Ekitike” business looked an awful lot like extortion to me.
Chris C, Toon Army DC

Free the Swedish One
Can people stop banging on about Newcastles unwillingness to sell Isak! He is not being held captive, there has only been one bloody bid! Which was comically low.  How are we any different to any other club? Team bids for key player, we say he is not for sale (what else would we say!) bid comes in low, we reject it.  This isn’t naivety and isn’t us holding onto Mayfair.  It’s basic common sense.  To repeat there has been one bid!!!

Also the pile on about us losing players, yes it’s annoying but not surprising.  We are trying to fish in bigger ponds.  It’s  not been a great summer but hey ho we move on.
Steve (NUFC)

HelloI really feel for Newcastle United football club and their ongoing off-field crisis. This brings us to an important aspect and that’s to forecast, prepare for eventualities.

With Isak seeking outside adventures and Callum Wilson leaving the football Club, what’s the next option for them? Money is not their problem but money is not everything.

Isak is now frozen out and this will further solidify his mind on not coming back to play for the Tyneside again even though he’s under a playing contract.

All pointing towards the eventual sale of their talismanic player and what the Club needs now is damage control.
Okorie Paul, Nigeria 

Some plentiful Liverpool thoughts
Howdo,

Long time mailbox contributor who’s not written in for a little while.

Just wanted to give thoughts about Liverpool’s transfer window so far and feelings about where we are squad wise as we glide / stumble into the season ahead.

I’ll start by saying that I don’t come from the school of thought where spending lots of money on new players leads to an automatic route to success – it is worth reminding folk that the last 2 titles that Liverpool have won came after summer windows with zero / minimal spend (continuity being king in that regard).

So we’ve spent c$260m on new players (and spent that money well, I feel), with roughly half recouped in sales to date.

Gut feeling is that we will see a few more players who were around the first team last year leave before the end of the window closes (Tsimikas / Elliott / Nunez / Chiesa). That may bring in just over £100m. This would take us to c£30m net spend but with squad holes to fill.

Goalkeeper – completely sorted on that front. In my mind we have the current best prem keeper alongside the person he will hand that mantle over to in due course. I continue to chuckle at Chelsea’s inability to grasp the concept that they will not be winning the league any time soon without a quality goalkeeper (not stretching the extra £5m to sign Maignan at just over £15m is beyond funny to me).

Defence – (LB) I think we have bought an absolute blinder in Kerkez – delighted in what I have seen of him so far. Hoping Robertson sticks around with Tsimikas being the one to find pastures new. It’s interesting that Slot played Robertson at CB on a couple of occasions in the not too distant past .. but not sure how I feel about that as a back-up option (or whether Slot sees him as such).

I completely agree with those that have been highlighting how thin we are in terms of centre half options – as things stand, we appear to be one meaningful injury to VVD from being screwed in the title race, although I guess you could be saying that about most seasons whilst he’s been at the club, with only the time he was on the end of a knee high, Hong-Kong-Phooey style assault from Pickford really hurting us. We need one in the door.

The Guehi situation is interesting and it is tough to know what to believe. Do we need some clarity on the Konate position before we can firm this up ? … Would he come if Konate stays ? .. and what if he signs an extension ? … my hope is yes, but you can understand the nervousness Guehi may currently be feeling about not coming across as a guaranteed starter.

My guess here is that Liverpool may be optimistic about this actually coming to fruition before the end of the window (but no way paying more that £40m), else I would have expected us to have been involved in the bidding for Hato (.. think Chelsea have done well there). Scalvini at Atalanta is a young (but injury prone) thoroughbred, however I think he’ll be seen as too much of a risk (+ Atalanta would be setting a high price too).

Personally, I am hopeful that Konate extends – I think he’s great, if susceptible at times to brain-burps (remember virtually all precious stones can be deemed to be of lesser quality when sat next to and compared directly to a diamond).

Right back – covered. I am hopeful that Bradley gets the initial starting berth and that we don’t rush Frimpong on that front (no squad issues).

Gomez is the ‘omni-defender’ here, who floats across the backline as cover – how i would genuinely love for him to get far more football with us this year and remain injury free – he is just one of those players that you really pull for  … (and god pray he bags a goal finally … and for it to be a meaningful one).

Midfield – not too many deep concerns at this stage, however I have long held the opinion that we would benefit from bagging more of a specialist 6 of decent quality for the broader squad (a priority for a later window, I feel). It looks as though Elliott may well be seeking pastures new, for which I would wish him every success – he has effectively been living out his dad’s fantasy in his years at Liverpool. Interest from Spurs makes sense to me in light of the dart player’s recent injury … but should they not been on the phone to Real Madrid for a loan deal for Arda Guler ?!?! … that’d be a win-win loan deal if ever I’ve there was one.

Attack – if Nunez moves on as appears to be the current mood music then this would leave us a bit thin up top.

I too had those ‘reverse Samson’ thoughts (not Kenny) that his new haircut would lead to a more productive season – there’s no rational explanation for feeling that … it’s not as if he’s been given a healthy injection of ice in his veins !  … but Slot doesn’t fancy him it seems.

If he goes, then our only true number nine would be Ekitike (who needs to show that he can finish better than Nunez … + that he doesn’t simulate as much as I’ve seen him do in the 2 or 3 times I’ve watched him play for Frankfurt – he’ll hopefully quickly realise that such behaviour does not readily endear himself to the fan-base).

If the dominoes don’t effectively line up for Isak to come to us, it would mean that Wirtz may well see himself operating at times as the false-9 (Firmino), with Gakpo and Salah either side – I’d be more than ok with that. I am feeling really positive about how Wirtz will fit into the team (beautiful creative quality … works like a demon when not in possession …Firmino v2 … what’s not to love about the thought of that ?)

Unless Newcastle can get 2 strikers in, one being of high end quality, you cannot picture how a sale of Isak would be sanctioned by the owners.

Would we go for an alternative 9 ? .. I don’t think so. I think we’d more directly cover the LW position – Rodrygo makes a lot of sense in that regard as he is a natural fit to cover both flanks (Doak being the current RW back-up) … but £75-80m feels a bit top-heavy for me .. dealing closer to £60m feels more appropriate.

So in conclusion, I am guessing it’ll be a CB and a wide attacker bought before the end of the window with a few more leaving (final net window spend being in the £120-150m bracket at a guess)

There may be one or two weaker spots from a squad perspective, but you can’t have everything. Besides, I am very much from the school of seeing the benefit of having squad gaps that provides opportunity for young stars to grow (.. referring primarily to Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha here).

New giant redwood trees are more successfully grown when space is made above them that allows them to see the light of day.

Can’t wait for it all to get going again .. not long now !

All the best,
Sparky, LFC

(in no way do i see us as evens favourites for the league … feels like Citeh are by far the best value bet out there at over 3’s)

Bagging a deckchair on the Titanic
Can’t wait for the season to start…should be a closer one than last year, that’s for sure. Using the esteemed F365’s own format, here’s what I (an Arsenal fan) humbly foresee…

To win the league: Liverpool, but only just. City will be close, Chelsea will be close…Arsenal will not be (particularly) close.

Rest of the top four, in order: City, Chelsea, Arsenal.

Three relegation picks: Burnley, Fulham, Wolves (with Everton, Brentford and Bournemouth all struggling, at least until January).

A pleasant surprise: Sunderland to survive with some small degree of comfort. Unpleasant surprises – Spurs and United to each finish top ten.

Golden Boot: Haaland, because he seems to have the necessary support cast once again.

Best signing: Wirtz, unless Isaak signs in which case…nah, still Wirtz…

Flop signing: Hesitant to answer this because the worst Premier League signing in history would obviously still be a thousand times better than me (and none of them ever showed up at my office to tell me I was sh*te at my job – unless they did while I was out on one of my three-hour lunches) but definitely Jordan Henderson.

Biggest bargain: Rayan Cherki…a snap at 30 mill.

PFA Player of the year: The aforementioned Wirtz.

First Manager out: Can’t see much past Parker at this point…but Vitor Pereira might consider himself lucky to be in situ come January.

CL Champion: Obviously Arsenal. Realizing he’s out of the league race by January, Arteta brilliantly switches focus to the cups and picks up both the FA and the Champions League.

Five magic words: Best League in the World.

Wishing for every fan to have an enjoyable, frustration-free season, and for every player to stay healthy. The streaming subscription is paid for, the signed shirts are in their frames…here we go!
George, Little-Edson-on-the-Waters, Spruffleton

MORE FROM THE F365 MAILBOX
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Tottenham youth
The answer to Sam’s question is quite straightforward; the club are f**king idiots.

We have a young lad who was incredible at Orient last season in Jamie Donley. The club just loaned him out despite knowing Maddison is out for the whole of the season, and Kulusevski is crocked too.

We do things like buy Veliz, Gil and Tel all of whom cost a pretty penny but have shown nothing to suggest they’ll ever be footnotes in our history (Tel has time on his side but frankly I’d be shocked if he’s anything more than okay). Not to mention the likes of Njie, Carlos Vinicius and Gedson Fernandes…all different shades of sh*te.

The academy, at no small cost, has so far coughed up Skipp, Kyle Walker Peters, Winks, Tanganga and Carter Vickers alongside Kane…which would suggest that it’s doing its job until you look at where those players are now.

Players improve, and in some cases succeed by getting time really playing for the senior team. I’d imagine Scarlett is one loan away from drifting away from the club despite having all the tools to be a good player.

The worst that happens is the value of the player can increase. But then again, Levy has no idea how to sell a player for good money.

If I was someone aged 12 or so, and Spurs came calling I’d look a little further.
Dan

Indecent logic
Eric, Los Angeles, says he “should know” the title of a certain film because he referenced it in an email he wrote to the mailbox a few years ago. I’m not sure that follows. By that logic, Dan, Spurs, should also know the correct title of the film because he referenced it in his own email. And yet they each present a different title. For the avoidance of doubt, it is indeed called Indecent Proposal and it’s one of the worst movies ever made. I should know because I mentioned it in this email.
Matt Pitt