Will Newcastle be blacklisted by agents in ‘transfer backlash’ after ‘ludicrous’ demands to Liverpool over Isak?

Will Newcastle face a ‘transfer backlash’ over Alexander Isak? Big players just ‘want assurances’ they can go when the time is right – like a release clause.

Get your own backlash
It is mightily strange to see client journalism in a national newspaper against Newcastle but John Cross steps up to the plate for the Daily Mirror (and presumably immediately waits for an awkward phone call from Luke Edwards asking precisely what he is playing at because everything is fine thank you).

‘Newcastle risk transfer backlash over handling of Alexander Isak to Liverpool saga’ is just all manner of weird headline.

A ‘transfer backlash’? Sounds weird. From whom?

And by ‘handling’ do we mean how Newcastle valued their best player at a certain price point and rejected the solitary bid they have received for him, which came in at about £40m under that number? Or how they have spent all summer forlornly trying to sign but being rejected by the calibre of replacement which could make Isak’s exit easier?

It is strange that Isak, who to remind us all has 1) made himself unavailable for a pre-season tour, 2) trained with his former club without permission from his current employers, and 3) refused to play for his club again among myriad other attempts to force a sale, has not ‘risked transfer backlash’ over his ‘handling’ of the situation.

But then it also isn’t strange in the slightest considering who Cross has likely been talking to.

He says that ‘there are fears among top agents that if Newcastle are digging in and playing hardball over Isak then it sets a worrying precedent for future targets’.

It could be suggested that rolling over and selling your best player – whose deal still has three years left to run – under market value also ‘sets a worrying precedent for future targets’ but there you go.

But Newcastle ‘blocking’ moves ‘would be a red flag for some big-name strikers’ who ‘are likely to want assurances’.

If only such ‘big-name strikers’ could get those ‘assurances’ formalised in writing. Say, signing a six-year contract with a release clause? Something like that. Could be an idea. Don’t know. Just spitballing.

‘Newcastle are in the Champions League, have struggled to attract big names this summer and the Isak factor could be playing a part.’

Being Newcastle is playing a far bigger part. Hugo Ekitike, Liam Delap and Benjamin Sesko did not turn the Magpies down because they took one look at poor Isak being trapped on terms he was stupid enough to agree to and got cold feet. Big names ultimately don’t fancy living in the north of England, especially if they have other options.

Newcastle have also done really well to spend well over £100m on new signings this summer despite facing the ‘transfer backlash’ of the agent world. Anthony Elanga, Malick Thiaw and Jacob Ramsey’s representatives are clearly scabs who have broken protocol.

It is funny that Cross ends his story by adding that Newcastle remain ‘in the mix for Brentford winger(?) Yoane Wissa’, but the Bees ‘are holding out for £60m-plus’ and ‘do not want to sell’.

Do Brentford ‘risk transfer backlash’? Of course not. They might if it was destitute Liverpool rather than Newcastle who were being selfishly prevented from adding to their £300m summer spend. But it’s the Magpies who are going to be blacklisted for the crime of being the first club ever to not sell a wantaway player.

Alexander the great
It is good of Liverpool Echo columnist John Aldridge to weigh in on Isak again after his ludicrous take on the situation.

Speaking of…

‘But look, the prospect of a £150m bid is ludicrous. This is not Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Isak is a top striker but that sort of fee for a player who clearly wants to leave and has even gone on strike to get it over the line I find incredible.

A clue: Newcastle have not set an asking price they want Liverpool to meet. £150m is a ballpark for what they would be willing to accept when taking into account the need to book a profit and source adequate replacements in time for their best player who has three years left on his contract.

It might well be ‘ludicrous’ and ‘incredible’ when looking specifically through the eyes of the only club being linked, who really just want to sign another striker. But Newcastle are the sellers and whatever price they quote goes. They are not obliged to set a lower fee to make things easier for Liverpool.

Ben Doak for £20m will seem fairly ‘ludicrous’ to many and Liverpool will quite rightly not care.

Rule of fun
If this line from Samuel Luckhurst in the Manchester Evening News isn’t used elsewhere by a Reach website with a headline featuring ‘Manchester United’, ‘unspoken rule’ and probably volumes being spoken within the week, Mediawatch owes everyone a drink:

‘The unspoken rule at United is academy players loaned to the Championship have a decent chance of returning to the first team squad.’

Is it an ‘unspoken rule’ because there is literally not one single example of an academy player being loaned out to the Championship before returning as a member of the Manchester United first-team squad?

Brandon Williams, Axel Tuanzebe, Hannibal, Alvaro Carreras, Teden Mengi, Tahith Chong and James Garner represent only the start of a long line of players who would love to know why that ‘unspoken rule’ never applied to them.

Weird headline of the day
‘Jordan Pickford appears to get nasty surprise from penalty cheat sheet as Everton star takes long look at water bottle’ – The Sun website.

‘Was Jordan Pickford let down by his ‘penalty cheat sheet’? England keeper handed a nasty surprise on his water bottle – before Leeds striker scored winner in Premier League return’ – MailOnline.

That definitely sounds like someone used the receptacle to relieve themselves. But of course a handful of people on formerly good social media site X saw Pickford staring at his water bottle for a couple of seconds and decided the ‘nasty surprise’ could only be that someone somehow forgot to put Lukas Nmecha’s penalty habits on there.

Pickford literally dived the right way. There was probably just more written on his bottle than ‘Nmecha – bottom left’.

And it still isn’t ‘cheating’.

Stars in their eyes
‘Wrexham close in on £8m deal for Man City star in latest transfer statement’ – Daily Mirror website.

Callum Doyle. Not one single Manchester City senior career appearance. ‘Star’.