WHY NEWCASTLE MIGHT SELL ISAK

BUT SHOULD WE BUY HIM?

Well, isn’t this week just fabulous? You don’t have to worry about qualifying for the Champions League. You don’t have to worry about people complaining that we finished 4th in a two-horse race. You don’t even really need to worry that we’ll get beaten in the last game of the season… and even if we do, who cares?

We’re on the damn beach, sipping Champions League cocktails at the VIP table again. A far cry from where we were five years ago—and a reminder that the project is largely on track, if we can fix some of the problems I’ve done to death on this blog page.

There’s been a vibe shift in the Alex Isak story. These comments from Eddie Howe have been responsible for a lot of spleen-venting over the past 24 hours:

"It's not to do with Alex's future, I'd be foolish to sit here and do anything like that."

"We want to keep our strongest players. I have said that as long as I've sat in this seat."

My take here is that the Newcastle financial situation hasn’t dramatically improved. They were on the verge of needing to sell last summer. Champions League will have helped them to better opportunities, but if they really want to reach the level of squad that can handle three games a week, they might need to have a Coutinho moment in the transfer window.

£120m for Alex Isak will cause great pain to their fans, but it could also give them space to buy 3–4 top-quality players that’ll improve their starting XI and add depth to a squad that tanked really badly the last time they made UCL.

Now, I could be really wrong there. They could also say… why the fuck would we sell the best striker in the world? His goals were the main reason they made UCL. Selling him would be a huge risk.

So we’ll see.

I love the concept of Alex Isak, but I just can’t help but think he is too rich for Arsenal—and you will never shake my belief that Arteta will destroy his body within four games. We need a mutant freak to handle the demands, and that’s just not Isak. He’s had a great season because he hasn’t been playing three intense games a week since September. It’s easy to be out of Europe; that’s why Nottingham Forest are still threatening the Champions League spots. It’s also why Chelsea are there as well. Put Isak in at three games a week and watch it crumble.

Availability cost us BIG this season. The idea that we’d bet the house on a player who is quite fragile feels like an emotional decision versus a pragmatic one. Gyokeres might not be my flavor of striker, but he’s a beast, has slummed it in the Championship, and he’s shown he can hack it at a high level over the past two seasons. Same with Sesko—another immense athlete, 21 years old, who looks built for Premier League football.

One player who has slipped through our grasp appears to be Cunha, who has moved to Manchester United. I really like his style as a 10. He’s aggressive, he’s bang bang, he moves like Gabriel Jesus, and he has a presence about him on the pitch. That’s a good signing by United… but may I offer an opinion? His character looks like the sort that might add spice to an overly disciplined Arsenal dressing room—but I do wonder how it’d work in a toxic hell hole? That’s not sour grapes, just a provocation, on reading that he’s walked more than any other player in 2025.

There are some rumblings that Arsenal want to keep Thomas Partey another season. He’s played well, stayed fit, and he’ll be a very good option in the Champions League. Gutting our experienced players if we don’t need to seems wasteful. If Zubimendi is coming to play for us next season, we have a great 6 ready to roll. We’ll also have additional options at the start of next season, with Kai being fit, and Merino not needing to play as a striker ever again.

Max Dowman is going to be part of the first team next season. He would have landed games this year if Arteta was allowed to give him a go. People who have seen him in training say he’s incredible. My friend who was at the open training session said he was not quite there. Regardless, when people like John Terry are saying we have the best young player in the country, you have to think he’s not talking rubbish. He’s currently with the U17 England team, about to take on Belgium in the kids' Euro Championship.

There have been links from a very shitty publication to Bryan Mbeumo. Personally, I love the player. He’s the right age, he scores lots of goals, he’s clinical, and he’s been doing great stuff at Brentford for a very long time. We have relations with Brentford—whether they are the best after the Raya transfer is open for debate—but he’s some player. Can play across the frontline, and he can create out of nothing. He feels like the sort of player Liverpool would have signed early in Klopp’s tenure.

Talking of Klopp—this is him talking about Liverpool tanking to 5th with injuries. It’s just another reminder that, in coaching circles, what Arteta has done will be talked about as a great achievement… in fan circles? The view is generally that this is excuse-making.

Two things can be true here:

1. Arsenal didn’t do a good job managing player fitness.

2. Arteta did a good job working through the aftermath.

Ok, that’s all I’ve got for you today.

Here’s the ratings from Newcastle. Sign up for a subscription and get ALL the pods and all the words… advert free. x