Newcastle spend to strengthen attacking options

Following Newcastle’s sale of Alexander Isak to Liverpool, the club proved to supporters that they are reinvesting in new players to strengthen their attack. Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade’s transfer fees matched the exact amount received for Isak. Yoane Wissa, who is expected to wear the No9 shirt now that Callum Wilson has also departed […]

Following Newcastle’s sale of Alexander Isak to Liverpool, the club proved to supporters that they are reinvesting in new players to strengthen their attack. Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade’s transfer fees matched the exact amount received for Isak. Yoane Wissa, who is expected to wear the No9 shirt now that Callum Wilson has also departed and 6ft 6ins Woltemade will join Anthony Gordon, William Osula and the other new signing Jacob Ramsey upfront to give Eddie Howe a strong attacking force. Osula was the subject of a late bid from Eintracht Frankfurt but Newcastle elected to keep their bright new star.

Transfer timing is essential and ends immediately the clock reaches the allotted time. Yoane Wissa was signed by Newcastle with only 10 seconds left before the end of the transfer period on September 1. Wissa had forgotten to sign one of the transfer forms and his representative could be seen running through Newcastle’s training building carrying the form for Wissa to sign.

 

Update on Cunha and Mount

Things looked bright for Manchester United’s under fire coach Ruben Amorim before the start of the season but as so often in football it has not gone to plan. There is an air of concern at Carrington as the team trained before and after a quiet breakfast and there were huddled whispers regarding the club’s latest setback. Two of Amorim’s favoured new attack minded starters, Matheus Cunha and Mason Mount picked up injuries. Cunha pulled up clutching his hamstring in the match against Burnley last Saturday. He has withdrawn from the Brazil squad for their match in the World Cup qualifiers. It is difficult at this stage to assess the seriousness of Mount’s problem but after an injury prone two seasons at the club he played for 30 minutes against Burnley nursing his leg muscle and was replaced by Kobbie Mainoo at half time.

I spotted Cunha walking fairly freely into the car park after the Burnley game and although Amorim said he was not sure of the extent of his injury there was hope he would be back after the break.

 

Why Liverpool wanted Isak

The main reason Liverpool wanted Isak is because last season he finished third behind Erling Haaland and Mo Salah in scoring 23 goals. He has the ability to cause defences problems by pulling them out of position, dropping deep and then running in from behind and he has exceptional dribbling skills.

Isak’s toxic attitude was the main reason why Howe reluctantly agreed to the sale and he felt from a coaching perspective that the situation could not be resolved despite his efforts to persuade Isak to stay. The striker had already told his teammates in the dressing room that he would not play for the club again and he has doubled his Newcastle wages in a six-year deal at Anfield. His agent representatives fed social media transfer gossip in order to push through the deal quicker and much of what you have read online has come from them.

One thing is for sure, it is just as well that Liverpool visited Newcastle on August 25th because the next time Isak plays at St James Park the Newcastle fans will make it a very unwelcome and loud visit.

**Fascinating fact: In modern day money terms, Alan Shearer’s move from Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle in 1996 for a world record of £15million would, in today’s money allowing for inflation, cost a huge £222million!

 

Transfer window spending goes into overdrive

The world’s best league has seen an incredible spending spree this summer. With the astonishing sum Liverpool paid Newcastle for Alexander Isak amounting to £130milllion, the Premier league clubs spent record amounts this summer. To demonstrate how much spending has risen here are the total amounts the big clubs spent since during this transfer period. Liverpool £447m, Chelsea £297m, Arsenal £267m, Newcastle £256m, Man Utd over £200m. Total amounts spent are 2025/26 £3.2bn, 24/25 £2.1bn, 23/24 £2.5bn, 22/23 £2.1bn, 21/22 £1.1bn. The increases have been made possible because of new TV deals which have significantly become more profitable as more countries around the world televise the weekly PL matches.

 

City will find it difficult to compete if they don’t improve

Many would acknowledge that Pep Guardiola is the best coach in world football. However, for the second season running, Manchester City are getting off to a poor start and sit in 13th place in the PL table with one win and two losses.

Pep was truly shocked on the south coast when Brighton took all three points despite Erling Haaland scoring on his 100th appearance for City.

Guardiola was despondent when it was pointed out to him that the last team to recover from such a bad start to the season and then go on to win the title was Manchester United 32 years ago.

 

Inner thoughts of West Ham’s Graham Potter

Last week he was a potential first sacking of the season but this week West Ham coach Graham Potter is a hero. I don’t think many of us would have bet on the Hammers travelling to Nottingham Forest and leaving with a 3-0 win but they achieved it in style.

Potter said, “The world we live in, you get written off in your job after a week which is ridiculous. This world is about outcomes and results and our results have been damaging, I admit that. So, in the end there is always noise, there is always criticism. People lose trust, people lose belief. But in the end, that’s why I am here because I can do the job. I’ve done it for 15 years and I believe in myself. I believe in the attributes and the qualities I have and I also can deal with the downside of the game.”

 

Chelsea fans disappointed with transfer business

Despite Chelsea sitting second in the table after three games, fans I talked to at Stamford Bridge are far from happy with the club’s transfer business and so is coach Enzo Maresca.

The boss wanted money spent on reinforcing his defence since the injury to Levi Colwill means he will be out for months rather than weeks after undergoing surgery for an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Big money additions are Joao Pedro, Liam Delap, Alejandro Garnacho and Jamie Gittens but Nicolas Jackson has gone and Chelsea fans are critical of the recruitment action. I heard remarks such as, “Such a poor ending to the transfer window from Chelsea and we really didn’t do enough this summer.” “Chelsea’s end to the transfer window has been an absolute disaster. Nicolas Jackson is off to Bayern, no major incomings and we’ve recalled Sunderland’s third choice striker to be Joao Pedro’s back-up.” “Under this ownership we have gone back to the old Chelsea where we always sign players to gain favours and playing it safe instead of bringing in players we actually need. Enzo Maresca is going to have a tough season despite our positive start.”

 

‘Old man’ Milner breaks another record

James Milner became the oldest player to score a penalty for 101 years as he put the ball past Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford at the age of 39 years and 239 days. He was one day younger than a Burnley player called David Taylor who converted his penalty in April 1924!