In the foyer of the Pan Pacific Hotel in Singapore, just hours after news had broken of Alexander Isak wanting to quit Newcastle, one of his team-mates casually remarked: ‘Yeah, he’s gone.’
Daily Mail Sport had published the story as the team flew to the Far East on July 24. Rather than be met with grumpy faces, given the news meant a storm and not sunshine awaited them, there were handshakes and shrugs of shoulders – ‘It is what it is’.
Isak, aware of Liverpool‘s interest, had told Eddie Howe and the club at the end of last season that he wanted to go. They listened. It is why Newcastle made moves for Joao Pedro and Liam Delap within days of the transfer window opening. It is why they went after Hugo Ekitike and Benjamin Sesko.
It is why they paid a club-record £69million for Nick Woltemade last week.
During that pre-season tour, senior figures spoke of being ‘ready to move on’ from Isak, admitting they had been for several weeks. He was always going to be sold if the ‘conditions of sale’ were met, as a club statement later revealed.
In 39 days of covering this story around the clock and around the world, not one person at any level of Newcastle has said he would not be sold, save for a hardened resolve in the minutes after Isak’s own accusatory statement on August 19. They were not impressed at all by that – his opaque talk of broken promises and relationships and a loss of trust.
The news Alexander Isak wanted to leave Newcastle was met with shrugs of shoulders
Isak told the club he wanted to join Liverpool and they listened, moving for replacements
The Swedish striker’s move to Liverpool was confirmed on Monday night, ending the saga of the summer
But the message has been consistent. Was he for sale? No. Will he be sold? Let’s see. Only when Newcastle’s failure to sign any strikers stretched to within a fortnight of the deadline did those on the inside believe that Isak may have to stay and be reintegrated. The panic triggered the 25-year-old’s incendiary statement, wired to detonate the lock he feared was about to snap shut.
There was still one final plea to get him to stay – as was the preference of all from a footballing perspective – when co-owner Jamie Reuben and a PIF delegation landed on his doorstep last Monday. Isak allowed them into his Darras Hall home but then slammed the door in their face, figuratively at least.
That night, following Liverpool’s 3-2 win at St James’ Park, talks began to progress over the framework of a deal. Isak’s agent, Vlado Lemic, was central to discussions with both clubs. Claims of a £150m asking price were helpful for Newcastle in that it set the bar high, but unhelpful in that the £125m Liverpool have paid looks cheap to some. The reality is that Newcastle were always likely to agree at around £130m, which is the amount they say they will recoup. It is also a British record transfer for a player they knew had to go. Internally, there is relief.
Sources close to the situation have said in recent days that some among the hierarchy were becoming ‘nervous’. In committing the money on Woltemade – taking summer spends to £200m – they needed the sale to happen, both from a perspective of PSR and dressing-room harmony. The Swede had turned his back on his club, his head coach and team-mates, and the feeling was they could not look him in the face again.
Howe and Isak had not spoken since his statement, and senior players within the dressing-room were angered by his conduct. We were told of one player having to be calmed down by a compatriot after a meeting on the subject, such was the strength of his feeling for honouring the badge.
Running parallel was a feeling of irritation towards Liverpool, especially given the longstanding friendship of Howe and their sporting director, Richard Hughes. It is not known if they have spoken at all this summer.
Newcastle knew they were at the other end of Liverpool’s summer-long strategy to extract their star player. Without Liverpool’s encouragement, he would not have gone on strike. When they offered £110m in early August – a figure they knew would be rejected – it robbed Newcastle of a striker for their opening three matches.
With the ball on the transfer rolling, there was zero chance Isak was going to kick another one for Newcastle. Liverpool’s promise to Isak’s camp to return with a second offer has most likely cost Newcastle seven points. Ironically, three of them were against the Reds. Liverpool will believe they have done what was needed to sign one of the world’s best strikers, and their game-plan was justified. There was a means to an end. If this window has proven one thing, it is that release clauses are a good idea in all contracts going forward. Professional football does prenups.
Eddie Howe and Isak had not spoken since his statement and some team-mates were angered
Liverpool will believe they have done what was needed to sign one of the world’s best strikers
The promise to return for Isak with a second offer has most likely cost Newcastle seven points
Isak no longer wanted a new deal. He did not want to listen to anything Newcastle had to say
So when there was talk over the weekend of Liverpool not coming back in for Isak – and Newcastle being OK with keeping him – it was all nonsense, posturing on the part of the clubs before final negotiations. From The Standoff of the summer to The Shootout of Sunday night, the deal was eventually signed off in double-quick time, a clue as to the longstanding expectation that it would be done.
What have Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian owners made of all of this? Public Investment Fund governor and Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan wanted to keep Isak entering the summer. He was his favourite player. But the fund, who have 30 employees working on the Newcastle portfolio, are also pragmatists and businesspeople. Al-Rumayyan had hoped that last Monday’s visit to Isak’s house would bring a positive resolution but, when it did not, the club-record move for Woltemade was sanctioned. Isak was on his way.
Many of team-mates were sympathetic to some of his motives for wanting to go, at least initially. They, too, were alarmed by the direction of travel after the removal of Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi and arrival of Paul Mitchell last summer. Isak was in the training-ground meeting when the new sporting director opened by calling himself ‘elite’ and urged the players to come on a journey with him. ‘F***ing mad’ was how that episode was described to me.
Those same words just about captured how Isak felt when Mitchell then told him he would not be getting a new contract, first discussed with Staveley a few months previous. Day one of this transfer saga can be traced back to Mitchell’s withdrawal of Staveley’s soft promise, and Howe and his staff worked wonders to get him back on board to score 27 goals last season.
But when the numbers of a new deal were floated this summer, they sunk like a stone. Isak no longer wanted a new contract. He did not want to listen to anything Newcastle had to say. And so, for more than a month, he has happily existed behind the gates of his Northumberland abode and the barrier of his picket line.
His sister has been staying with him at times, popping to the local Waitrose for supplies. Take-away drivers and hairdressers have also had the odd interaction, and it was a tell-tale sign when he got a fresh trim on Sunday afternoon.
For Newcastle, it is just a shame that Isak’s conduct has, for many supporters, airbrushed him from some of their happiest memories.
