I dont know why I listen to it, but my algorithm presents me Simon Jordon on talksport quite a lot and there was one from this week where he spent a good 15 minutes really laying into Isak with what would otherwise be viewed as an unprofessional level of invective, other than it being talksport. And then in the final 2 mins he accepted Newcastle created the situation 
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Craig Nope
Craig Dope
Craig Flop(e)
Craig Broke
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I’m sure I read last season in the Athletic that Howe and Mitchell were at loggerheads early on over this as Howe was calling for them to move up the food chain in terms of quality/name of signings, and Mitchell didn’t think they were financially ready to. Might help explain why they went for the signings they did in the first half of the window, even though we must have had Ekitike committed to joining us quite early on.
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Hoping for some news on this very soon. Maybe they sign Larson for 65M and then reluctantly do a deal with us for Isak, recognizing it’s for the best?
Then perhaps Wissa right at the end of the window for them?
When Mitchell’s exit was confirmed there was reporting from them about how there was some disagreement between the two early on. I didnt read anything that specified what the disagreements were, but it’s surely relevant that he came in at a time when the PSR restrictions were really closing in on them.
The relevance those stories though in their reporting was not related to this summer’s business, but to explain why he might have decided to leave. Their suggestion was Mitchell’s perspective won out, and did in large part because the guy who hired him was able to lay down the law that this was Mitchell’s domain and what he was hired to do. Under a new CEO there was room for Howe to restart the fight and it would be adjudicated by someone who didnt automatically have his back and he just coudlnt be arsed with it. But Mitchell has been largely uninvolved by all accounts in this year’s summer business.
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There is zero chance Newcastle fans, the owners and Howe apologize to Isak.
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Never underestimate the hypocrisy of the football fan.
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Mbeumo 
Sesko
Pedro
Delap
Ekitike
Kudus
Trafford
Cunha
Jackson
Strand Larsen
Duuuuuuuude. I almost feel sorry for them.
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It would be funnier if we didn’t actually need them to sign a striker…
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We don’t.
Could’ve signed a Rodrygo/Barcola weeks ago, saved ourselves £50m and this wouldn’t still be a story. Needing Isak and wanting him are 2 different things.
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If we wanted either of those we’d have made proper efforts to get one.
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You need to have a word with your algorithm.
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Who says we haven’t? We’re spending the same time and effort on Isak as we did Lavia/Caicedo only to end up with Grav on the last day - it was never meant to be both, these things especially where we’re involved have a habit of playing out differently.
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He was someone we’d had long time interest in and moved when we did because of an indication that bayern were willing to move on from a deal that hadnt worked out for them. I think there is every chance we’d have still gone in for him at that point, especially at that price, had we been successful in the Lavia or Caicedo moves. It would have been Endo who didnt come in that situation.
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Pretty much what I said about the implosion of the Sun.
It’s garbage and it’s stalling time. It’s evidently the line they’ve tried to sell Isak but he has seen how utterly inept. Probably not helped by their response to Isak.
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Fuck this shit. We should informally tell Isak “look lad, this isn’t happening, we tried”
and go get Rodrygo and be done with it. We lost jota, sold diaz and nunez. That’s 21 PL goals among them.
Ekitike might come close to that but Salah is one year older and even though Chiesa and Rio have started well, we can’t rely on them for that level of output.
You might say “Flo will contribute” and I’m sure he will but he clearly needs some time to get used to the tempo and physicality of the PL so we don’t know when that will be.
Also, Rodrygo would primarily be down the middle and will only take some time off Ngumoha’s development time.
Right now there is a big gap between what we need and what can realistically be expected from Rio and Chiesa to deliver
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I’m not convinced Rodrygo is the player to go after even if we decide not to get Isak. He plays for a team who dominate everyone they play and returned 6 goals and 5 assists in 2000 minutes last season. His underlying numbers were worse too.
By comparison that’s basically the same G+A return that Jota had but Jota played half the minutes. It’s essentially the same season Nunez had but 800 more minutes.
Add to the fact he’s likely be to be extortiately expensive especially on wages.
There’s a reason we don’t really chase other team’s castoffs. We want the players other teams don’t want to sell, not the players they do.
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I understand the temptation to draw a line under it now, but my take is having already gone so far, we should see it through to conclusion.
The signs are getting stronger, imo, that Newcastle will reluctantly deal. I think the main stumbling block is their inability to sign players, but now that they are way down the list, after having been rejected by quite a few, they should be able to sign Larsen, and hopefully Wissa.
If we are not trying to sign two forwards, I do feel we should have a deal for another forward/winger all but lined up as an emergency option, so at the last minute possible we can close on that, should Isak not happen.
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