Football 2025-26

[charlierc]

12 hours ago, thetime said:

 

Utd failed to win in 27 league games last season, there was an awful lot of tripping up. 

 

For me I dont see a GK or number 6 until next summer. 

The Donnarumma still seems to be persisting tbf but I don't see it, while I also saw how a move for Baleba seems to have fizzled out due to Brighton wanting big cash.

 

But yeah. I think with Man Utd, it could just be a case of stabilising after such a high-profile collapse last season. Spurs do seem slightly more on it as well, mind... not that its hard for them to improve given they lost a bafflingly high number of games for a club with their budget.

[charlierc]

3 hours ago, thetime said:

@newcastlefans

 

You are all upset at the way Isak has down tools at Newcastle. How its outrageous the way he is treating your club.

 

How you feel about the Wissa situation and Brentford? 

 

If anything, I think Wissa has pushed it further given his antics today of deleting all reference to Brentford from his Instagram. Which is magnificently petty. Unless Isak is seen doing it the day after tomorrow or something.

 

To a degree, I kinda get his hubbub given that at 29 with one year on his deal and having never played in the Champions League before, this feels like Wissa is treating this as a now-or-never move.

 

Equally, it hasn't exactly painted Wissa in a great light. Just had a lurk on the Brentford Reddit and they all think he's a prick, in a way where I think the relationship fracture is now even beyond Newcastle fans with Isak. No mean feat given how much that one has gone in the shredder in the last few weeks.

 

I'm perfectly aware people will make the comparison because there's a lot of similarities. There's a few differences, but the base is still someone wanting more money and what they see as a better chance of success, and both would've been resolved if the paying club had paid the fee by now (admittedly Brentford now want 50m or even 60m after previous hints they might accept 35m, making this similar to Palace moving the goalposts by adding a few extra million multiple times for Marc Guehi last year). I'm starting to think Newcastle should look for someone else tbf if Brentford are going to continue to be such hard negotiators.

 

Maybe the talk of Isak, Wissa and a few others is that people should actually get these things in writing rather than "gentleman's agreements" that clearly aren't worth the paper they're not written on.

[thetime]

11 minutes ago, charlierc said:

If anything, I think Wissa has pushed it further given his antics today of deleting all reference to Brentford from his Instagram. Which is magnificently petty. Unless Isak is seen doing it the day after tomorrow or something.

 

To a degree, I kinda get his hubbub given that at 29 with one year on his deal and having never played in the Champions League before, this feels like Wissa is treating this as a now-or-never move.

 

Equally, it hasn't exactly painted Wissa in a great light. Just had a lurk on the Brentford Reddit and they all think he's a prick, in a way where I think the relationship fracture is now even beyond Newcastle fans with Isak. No mean feat given how much that one has gone in the shredder in the last few weeks.

 

I'm perfectly aware people will make the comparison because there's a lot of similarities. There's a few differences, but the base is still someone wanting more money and what they see as a better chance of success, and both would've been resolved if the paying club had paid the fee by now (admittedly Brentford now want 50m or even 60m after previous hints they might accept 35m, making this similar to Palace moving the goalposts by adding a few extra million multiple times for Marc Guehi last year). I'm starting to think Newcastle should look for someone else tbf if Brentford are going to continue to be such hard negotiators.

 

Maybe the talk of Isak, Wissa and a few others is that people should actually get these things in writing rather than "gentleman's agreements" that clearly aren't worth the paper they're not written on.

 

All players are the same, or the majority anyway. Out for themselves and just passing through. 

 

Why would a Congo player care about Brentford? Why would a Swede care about Newcastle? Hey why would a south American care about utd (Garnacho/Antony)?

 

Its all about making the most money in the least amount of time, whilst getting a bit of success to promote the brand. 

[kaosmark2]

16 hours ago, charlierc said:

If anything, I think Wissa has pushed it further given his antics today of deleting all reference to Brentford from his Instagram. Which is magnificently petty. Unless Isak is seen doing it the day after tomorrow or something.

 

To a degree, I kinda get his hubbub given that at 29 with one year on his deal and having never played in the Champions League before, this feels like Wissa is treating this as a now-or-never move.

 

Equally, it hasn't exactly painted Wissa in a great light. Just had a lurk on the Brentford Reddit and they all think he's a prick, in a way where I think the relationship fracture is now even beyond Newcastle fans with Isak. No mean feat given how much that one has gone in the shredder in the last few weeks.

 

I'm perfectly aware people will make the comparison because there's a lot of similarities. There's a few differences, but the base is still someone wanting more money and what they see as a better chance of success, and both would've been resolved if the paying club had paid the fee by now (admittedly Brentford now want 50m or even 60m after previous hints they might accept 35m, making this similar to Palace moving the goalposts by adding a few extra million multiple times for Marc Guehi last year). I'm starting to think Newcastle should look for someone else tbf if Brentford are going to continue to be such hard negotiators.

 

Maybe the talk of Isak, Wissa and a few others is that people should actually get these things in writing rather than "gentleman's agreements" that clearly aren't worth the paper they're not written on.

I do think there's 2 other differences as well:

 

Wissa did put in a transfer request upon the initial bid happening, while Isak didn't to try and protect his bonuses.

Newcastle's reaction to the initial rejection was to respect the idea of "£35m and we find a replacement" as Brentford's reaction, whereas Liverpool's offer was derisory.

 

But it's hard to disagree that Wissa's sulk and antics aren't great either.

 

If you ask me how I think all this resolves, is I think Newcastle buy either Jackson or a striker from abroad, Wissa and Isak end up playing September-December, then Newcastle sell Isak in Jan to PSG and Wissa goes to Spurs in January.

[charlierc]

7 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

I do think there's 2 other differences as well:

 

Wissa did put in a transfer request upon the initial bid happening, while Isak didn't to try and protect his bonuses.

Newcastle's reaction to the initial rejection was to respect the idea of "£35m and we find a replacement" as Brentford's reaction, whereas Liverpool's offer was derisory.

 

But it's hard to disagree that Wissa's sulk and antics aren't great either.

 

If you ask me how I think all this resolves, is I think Newcastle buy either Jackson or a striker from abroad, Wissa and Isak end up playing September-December, then Newcastle sell Isak in Jan to PSG and Wissa goes to Spurs in January.

It's a weird one too as I think our business has been pretty decent - Ramsey has been a nuisance for us in the past, Elanga looks like an upgrade on Almiron as an alternative RW option, Ramsdale has a point to prove and has decent moments, and I have heard good reviews from Milan fans for Thiaw. But not replacing Wilson has been a real Achilles heel that'll be even worse if Isak exits, even if that saga's been strangely quieter in the past few days. Irony being Ekiteke's strong debut and questions in other positions makes one query if Liverpool are best served by spending cash on multiple positions rather than 150m on one striker.

 

The Wissa thing is a messy one. I get Brentford's reluctance to sell given they've been gutted this summer, or indeed that like us they're also struggling to find striker replacements, but he has properly downed tools and their fans seem to have turned on him big time. So... pfft. f**k knows. It's a strange one as there's a fair amount of differences like what's been cited, while at the same time, I'm aware there's enough ammo to see it as counterintuitive to go from a striker on strike to another striking striker.

[thetime]

8 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Wissa and Isak end up playing September-December, then Newcastle sell Isak in Jan to PSG and Wissa goes to Spurs in January.

 

After tonight's comments from Isak, not a chance he is at Newcastle at the end of the window. 

[kaosmark2]

1 hour ago, thetime said:

 

After tonight's comments from Isak, not a chance he is at Newcastle at the end of the window. 

https://www.newcastleunited.com/en/news/alexander-isak-statement-190825

 

"we have been clear that the conditions of a sale this summer have not transpired. We do not foresee those conditions being met."

 

Basically, Liverpool have tapped him up to see if they can get him at a cut price, and the club are saying "f**k that".

[charlierc]

Just when I thought the Isak stuff was getting quiet, it's pretty much exploded last night. Crikey. 

 

Makes you wonder what will actually happen if Liverpool don't make a bid we can accept. Is he that arsey enough to stay on the sidelines and pout until January?

[thetime]

7 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

 

 

Basically, Liverpool have tapped him up to see if they can get him at a cut price, and the club are saying "f**k that".

 

Players are always tapped up. No club goes in blind and just bids for players. 

 

£110m is hardly cut price, around the correct figure. £150m is over priced for Isak, over valuation from Newcastle. This would make him the 3rd most expensive transfer in history, he is good but not that good. 

 

Although the situation is fully on Isak, no question. Liverpool bid which is there right, Newcastle rejected. Isak totally unprofessional and acting up to get a move. 

[thetime]

2 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Just when I thought the Isak stuff was getting quiet, it's pretty much exploded last night. Crikey. 

 

Makes you wonder what will actually happen if Liverpool don't make a bid we can accept. Is he that arsey enough to stay on the sidelines and pout until January?

 

Doesn't help no other club are interested. 

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, thetime said:

 

Players are always tapped up. No club goes in blind and just bids for players. 

 

£110m is hardly cut price, around the correct figure. £150m is over priced for Isak, over valuation from Newcastle. This would make him the 3rd most expensive transfer in history, he is good but not that good. 

 

Although the situation is fully on Isak, no question. Liverpool bid which is there right, Newcastle rejected. Isak totally unprofessional and acting up to get a move. 

Excessive asking price or not, we've all seen how inflated this market is - PL-proven players now seem to be a bare minimum of £30-40mil a pop. Hell, Brentford now want £60mil for Wissa, who is 29 and out of contract at the end of the season (although Brentford have an option for another year). Many clubs are gonna do this sh*t all the way round, and are like that when we bid, so we might as well join in.

 

I personally think £135m could be acceptable if push came to shove, but it depends on us getting a striker signing of our own. Something which, as this summer demonstrated, isn't exactly straight-forward. Irony is if we'd signed Ekiteke, who we had a bid rejected for just before he joined Liverpool and who we had previously tried to sign at other stages of his career, that might well have smoothed the path for this transaction.

 

One thing I have seen is that the narrative has changed. At first, it was on us being cast as the bad guy, but I don't think this strop is endearing Isak to anyone. Hell, I even see a growing number of Liverpool fans questioning if they want him if he's going to be like this, and given the counterpoint is that Eze and Guehi are still playing despite both being linked with sales, it's not hard to draw parallels.

1 hour ago, thetime said:

 

Doesn't help no other club are interested. 

There were vague whispers of PSG but nothing more than that.

[thetime]

3 minutes ago, charlierc said:

 Many clubs are gonna do this sh*t all the way round, and are like that when we bid, so we might as well join in.

 

 

 

Newcastle think he is worth £150m, no problem with that. I just dont think any club in the world  thinks the same. The £150m seems a figure just to scare clubs off. Unfortunately the player is acting a tool, Newcastle won't have much option to sell when Liverpool put a higher bid in before the window closes. 

 

Has to be said, Liverpool have played it perfectly to get the player. Unsettle the player, put a bid in and go in the background. Let Newcastle and Isak fight it out in public, before he becomes a Liverpool player and not for £150m. 

[kaosmark2]

Nah f**k that noise. The price to Liverpool is £150m. The price elsewhere isn't.

 

I still think he ends up going to PSG either for ~£135m or Goncalo Ramos + cash.

[lost]

What do we think of this? Football moving in new directions again.

 

 

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, lost said:

What do we think of this? Football moving in new directions again.

 

 

I know there was a thing of the Bundesliga having one game a week on the BBC but this is very different. 

 

Though I don't think I've ever watched any of this person's stuff. 

[charlierc]

3 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Nah f**k that noise. The price to Liverpool is £150m. The price elsewhere isn't.

 

I still think he ends up going to PSG either for ~£135m or Goncalo Ramos + cash.

It's odd timing tbf that this became public the day after Liverpool signed Ekiteke. Surely if he was angling for a move, this should've come before Liverpool committed big cash for a different striker. One Newcastle wanted.

 

I guess we'll see what happens. I personally would prefer not to sell to Liverpool but there's a question on who the alternatives are. 

 

I did see we were linked with Ramos. So I wouldn't be opposed to that I guess. 

 

[kaosmark2]

46 minutes ago, charlierc said:

It's odd timing tbf that this became public the day after Liverpool signed Ekiteke. Surely if he was angling for a move, this should've come before Liverpool committed big cash for a different striker. One Newcastle wanted.

 

I guess we'll see what happens. I personally would prefer not to sell to Liverpool but there's a question on who the alternatives are. 

 

I did see we were linked with Ramos. So I wouldn't be opposed to that I guess. 

The thing is, that first noise of "wants to explore his options" seemed fine? Obviously no fan really wants to hear their player is interested in leaving, but I genuinely didn't have a huge problem there. I didn't even mind him training at Sociedad that much.

 

The issue comes because of the continually escalating sulk and Liverpool's ridiculous £110m, while also not submitting a transfer request so he can continue to get his "loyalty bonus".

 

I think this has now become a point of the club making a statement that you can't unsettle our players to get them on the cheap. If he'd been angling at the start of the window I suspect we get Ekitike and he goes to Liverpool for ~£130m. Now I suspect there's so much bad blood between the clubs that such a halfway point doesn't happen, particularly as other clubs will know they can demand an extra £5-10m for their strikers with our situation.

 

I rate Goncalo Ramos. Supposedly we enquired earlier in the window and then he spoke with Enrique who said that he would play more than just a back-up role, so he said he'd do that, but I imagine that the idea of playing 2nd fiddle to Isak at either club doesn't appeal, particularly with Dembele in that false 9 being the main option last season. Question is whether he'd be happy with being the main man at Newcastle.

[thetime]

Eze to Arsenal come from nowhere. 

[kaosmark2]

11 hours ago, thetime said:

Eze to Arsenal come from nowhere. 

Eh, I think it comes from the lessons learned of last season with the Havertz injury. I think they've always liked the player it just had the "is he needed" question.

[charlierc]

13 hours ago, thetime said:

Eze to Arsenal come from nowhere. 

It's nice for Spurs to keep us company in the "Our targets turned us down" room. 

[charlierc]

22 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

The thing is, that first noise of "wants to explore his options" seemed fine? Obviously no fan really wants to hear their player is interested in leaving, but I genuinely didn't have a huge problem there. I didn't even mind him training at Sociedad that much.

 

The issue comes because of the continually escalating sulk and Liverpool's ridiculous £110m, while also not submitting a transfer request so he can continue to get his "loyalty bonus".

 

I think this has now become a point of the club making a statement that you can't unsettle our players to get them on the cheap. If he'd been angling at the start of the window I suspect we get Ekitike and he goes to Liverpool for ~£130m. Now I suspect there's so much bad blood between the clubs that such a halfway point doesn't happen, particularly as other clubs will know they can demand an extra £5-10m for their strikers with our situation.

 

I rate Goncalo Ramos. Supposedly we enquired earlier in the window and then he spoke with Enrique who said that he would play more than just a back-up role, so he said he'd do that, but I imagine that the idea of playing 2nd fiddle to Isak at either club doesn't appeal, particularly with Dembele in that false 9 being the main option last season. Question is whether he'd be happy with being the main man at Newcastle.

I think this late in the window with PSG having sold Kolo Muani, getting Ramos would be difficult. Might be worth a go though if Brentford are going to keep pushing up the price for Wissa.

 

If Isak had said in early June that he was open to an exit, fine. It felt odd to start this tantrum literally after Liverpool signed Ekiteke, because I'm bemused as to why Liverpool would sign both.

[kaosmark2]

16 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I think this late in the window with PSG having sold Kolo Muani, getting Ramos would be difficult. Might be worth a go though if Brentford are going to keep pushing up the price for Wissa.

 

If Isak had said in early June that he was open to an exit, fine. It felt odd to start this tantrum literally after Liverpool signed Ekiteke, because I'm bemused as to why Liverpool would sign both.

I don't think Ramos happens outside of a swap deal. 

 

I've read a bit that Villa are in for Jackson, which might make Watkins buyable. Probably at the ~£55m Brentford seem to be wanting for Wissa, but the longer his sulk goes on the less I want him.

 

I think his agent started panicking about not getting a payday and got in his ear. Isak is his only big value name, and him and Gyokeres are the only names for that agency.

[Dan R]

Tbh I think both Newcaslte and Liverpool have been pretty reasonable, Isak's been the one who caused the drama. Both teams need two strikers for the CL, Liverpool have tested the water with Newcastle to see if they'll budge on the no sale stance, Newcastle wouldn't consider it until they secure at least a replacement, if not an additional back up. All pretty reasonable, except for the player.

 

Can help but think a lot of problems would've been eased if Nunez had gone to Tyneside...

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, Dan R said:

Tbh I think both Newcaslte and Liverpool have been pretty reasonable, Isak's been the one who caused the drama. Both teams need two strikers for the CL, Liverpool have tested the water with Newcastle to see if they'll budge on the no sale stance, Newcastle wouldn't consider it until they secure at least a replacement, if not an additional back up. All pretty reasonable, except for the player.

 

Can help but think a lot of problems would've been eased if Nunez had gone to Tyneside...

I don't think Nunez's reputation was helped by Liverpool fans frequently saying on social media that he was rubbish, but there's equally that idea that selling our top scorer and getting crumbs from Liverpool's table didn't appeal. I think if we'd signed Ekiteke, Liverpool would've gone for Isak instead. 

 

I do agree though that if it wasn't for the way Isak handled this, this probably would've been put to bed by now. 

[lost]

Big rumours Nuno maybe the first manager of the season to get the chop.