Nah I’m not comfortable at all with the way it’s played out and I’ve said many times I don’t particularly think him or his agent have played this well. Then again Isak seems adamant something was promised. I’ve been in this position and had it rowed back on me and instantly I applied for a couple of jobs.
So if he was I totally understand it however there was no formal request put in and if that’s down to the agent not getting his money or loyalty bonus they have to bite the bullet. I assume nothing formal has still not gone in.
Newcastle can’t be acting like a big club when they keep a high AF valuation on the player and refuse to give him the necessary increase on the salary.
I think it does come down to wages at the end. Some clubs are able to spend more on wages w.r.t FFP than others. Whether it is legally earned revenue or oilcunts inflating their revenue.
So I spent a couple more years in the startup I was working in because I was promised stock options. The intent was for the startup to go public. Didn’t apply when the owners sold the startup to VCs and exited.
I have some sympathy with what you are saying, but just want to add that football works in its own unique way with regard to contracts.
In the normal world of employment, you have a contract, you fulfil your contract, then you move on as a free employee to your next thing.
In football, contracts act in the same way, to a degree, with the main added ingredient that they are a way of protecting transfer value.
Contracts are broken all the time. Most transfer deals happen when a player is mid-contract. It is one of the key ways in which the game is funded. If anything, the average football fan is more outraged when a player winds his contract down, because the club does not receive compensation in the form of a transfer fee to buy a replacement.
Isak wants out, he cites broken promises, and he wants to move on. I personally am not too upset by that because in Isak’s world, most players move clubs mid-contract.
We are a willing buyer and have made a British record opening bid that was rejected. We have not come back with another bid because we want a willing party to negotiate with, and Newcastle have not been that, to date.
Newcastle’s incessant PR war has painted Isak as the villain. We’ve had several weeks of this from various outlets and Newcastle mouthpieces. Finally Isak decided to speak up and start to defend himself.
It’s messy, and I would rather he was training and playing with the group - although Eddie Howe himself excluded Isak from that a couple of weeks ago, when he said that he only wanted to include people who wanted to be there.
It’s a mess, for sure, but I am not willing to paint Isak as the villain here.
I’m not convinced this is about wages. Maybe it was at the start but at this point I think Isak wants out and won’t accept an improved contract even if Newcastle offered one to him.
So
No news then.
Just supporters speculating on what is happening and deriding ITK’s who know fuck all.
Bottom line…
Support him if he signs for Liverpool.
Fucking forget him if he doesn’t.
My “not a lawyer” concern with this is while I know Diarra got a positive judgement in his recent case it was a retrospective judgement that he should not have been barred from joining his new team. Until there is precedent for it being allowed in real time does not that give you concern that a court could still reconsider it and take their time over it?
Oh, yes. There are many nuances and Newcastle have done a terrible job and more. But it doesn’t remove the villain factor from Isak for me. Certainly, Newcastle is in their rights to fuck up and do a botch job in the window. He should at the very least have handed in a transfer request and not doing so is just too maliciously shady for me.
No, and certainly not the High Court. They’ll tell Newcastle that they need to pursue other avenues specifically provided for resolving these disputes.
There are arbitration clauses in PL rules as well as the proceses set down by FIFA.
Newcastle despite their new owners, aren’t one of the top clubs in the Prem that can compete for everything or offer the best wages. Even Manchester City, with less strict rules when they were bought out, took years to be rise their status up to be a top draw for players and had a few disagreements with players like Tevez as well.
Also Newcastle aren’t in a position to spent there way to the top as fast as they might like, which means Isak would be sacrificing challenging for trophies to stay at Newcastle. He could have gone down as a Newcastle legend but Newcastle aren’t going to be challenging for the prem or champions league in his prime years as a player. Personal ambition might matter here too.
In another way no.
If they’d offered him a big contract on that sort of wages a year ago. He’d probably be happy still but now? According to Isak, Newcastle have broken promises and been smearing him in the media. This feels like the bridge might have been burnt enough that there is no coming back. I think he’d refuse to sign a new contract even if it offered him massive wages at this point.
Putting it again in the context of things most of us can relate to, they made a promise to an employee reflective of how much they said they valued them, but then renegged on it. When the employee then ultimately put in their notice after deciding they didnt want to work for people like that anymore then only then did the right thing, but in a way that has already demonstrated they dont really give a fuck. And the textbook advice in situations like this is to not accept the counter offer…the things you didnt like about your current employer wont change just because they are now paying you more.