For a time in the mid-90s, Newcastle United were competing near the top of the football food chain. In an event Manchester United fans are still bitter about three decades later, Sir John Hall sanctioned the breaking of the world transfer record to bring Alan Shearer home in 1996. There were other notable signings such Les Ferdinand and David Ginola which demonstrated that the Magpies were an attractive destination during that period under Kevin Keegan.

The landscape changed in 2003 when Roman Abramovic bought Chelsea, and then again in 2008 when Manchester City were taken over by a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family. This, coupled with the ongoing financial success of the Premier League compared with other European leagues, re-ordered the football food chain. The traditional ‘elite’ clubs now had competition both financially and in terms of offering players a shot at success.

Throughout the 2010s Newcastle fell back from the highs of the 90s back into the ranks of the Premier League also-rans. There was an explicit policy implemented by Mike Ashley to pitch Newcastle as a ‘stepping stone’ as a way of attracting new signings and balancing the books. This made it hard to enjoy players too much because they would be sold whenever an acceptable bid was made. The likes of Yohan Cabaye and later Gini Wijnaldum and Ayoze Perez were all moved on at a profit, albeit all were in different circumstances.

Newcastle are thankfully a very different club to the depressing shell of an organisation presided over by Ashley, but their attempts at clawing up the food chain are slow, due in part to financial regulations brought in specifically to stop ambitious ‘new money’ clubs from crashing the elite party. Newcastle remain vulnerable to better resourced clubs (those with greater revenues and ability to sell their unwanted players for significant fees) trying to prize their best players away.

Although irritating, it is a good sign when your club’s players are being linked with big moves because it means you have excellent players playing well. It is obvious why any club would love to have a striker with 50 goals in 89 Newcastle appearances in their team. However, some of the commentary (mainly from uninformed Sky Sports or TalkSport talking heads with links to traditional ‘big’ clubs) around Alexander Isak has been bizarre since the start of this season.

To start with, Isak has 3.5 years left to run on the 6-year contract he signed in August 2022. This means Newcastle are under no obligation to entertain offers for him and can set their price if a club is interested in making a bid. The going rate for a 25-year-old striker with a better than 1 goal in 2 games record and without any obvious weaknesses in his game would have to be pushing £150m in the current market. This is not going to happen in January and it’s doubtful whether any club will have the resources to do this in the summer.

The possibility of Isak being sold, or there being some sort of contractual dispute, was initially put to Eddie Howe in a press conference before the Chelsea game in October. Given Isak’s lengthy contract and the fact the transfer window wasn’t open, that speculation looked like mischief making from somebody with an interest in trying to unsettle the player or the club. It’s perhaps no coincidence that that weekend’s opponents, Chelsea, were a club credited with an interest in Isak last summer.

Newcastle’s stance might change if Isak indicated that he wanted to move on, but he has been consistent up to this point about being happy on Tyneside and has showed no signs that he wants to leave. Of course, this could and probably will change in the future if the Magpies fail to keep pace with Isak’s development. He is undeniably one of the best strikers in world football and is already good enough to be playing for a club challenging for titles and Champions Leagues. Not many Newcastle fans would begrudge Isak a lucrative move to one of the most successful clubs in Europe at some point in the future if the Magpies’ progress is slower.

One of the discussions on Sky Sports last week centred around Isak leaving to go to a ‘bigger’ club. This ignored the fact that Newcastle are already a ‘big’ club in their own right and at that time had just beaten two ‘big’ clubs in their own backyards (now three). It was amusing to see Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher bemoan Real Madrid’s approach for Trent Alexander-Arnold as ‘insulting’ and ‘bad timing’ while their media colleagues tout Isak around at any opportunity.

Isak makes mockery of Sky Sports headlines

Newcastle’s Carabao cup semi-final against Arsenal provided more fuel for the media to link Isak with a move to North London with Sky Sports website headline before the game being that ‘Newcastle forward can show Arsenal what they’re lacking’.

Much of the pre-match talk on beIN Sports focussed on the notion that Arsenal wanted to sign Isak as though it is a realistic possibility. Of course, the Swede pitched up, scored a goal and put in a man-of-the-match performance to hopefully help his current club on the way to another cup final.

The talk around Arsenal is incessant and logical due to their need for a striker, but right now they don’t fit the criteria of being one of the most successful clubs in the Premier League, never mind in Europe.

On the evidence of the games between the clubs this season, Newcastle are well and truly in the same league as Arsenal when it comes to quality of squad and ability of manager. It would not be a foregone conclusion that Isak would agree to sign for Arsenal if they could afford him. They may be regretting not trying to take advantage of Newcastle’s PSR woes last summer, but that ship has now sailed.

An aspect of this that is sometimes overlooked is the recruitment process that resulted in Newcastle spending £63m on Isak in 2022. He was coming off a season at Real Sociedad where he had only scored 6 league goals. The Magpies deserve great credit for recognising the talent and taking a high-stakes risk on the potential that Isak would be able to replicate the 17-goal season he enjoyed in 2020/21. Some of the ‘big’ clubs would benefit from improving their scouting networks so they don’t have to spend more on established players once they are proven.

It also must be acknowledged that Newcastle have used their place in the food chain to pick up signings from less upwardly mobile, lower profile clubs in recent years, and will do so again in the coming windows. Brentford fans may feel similar about Newcastle links to Brian Mbuemo as Toon fans do about the Isak Arsenal chatter. This is all part of football, and the higher profile clubs naturally generate more noise.

Here is the key point. Just as they won’t be pushed around on the pitch, Newcastle will not be bullied off it either. When Alexander Isak does leave it will be on Newcastle’s terms, and to a club with a winning mentality and a realistic chance of winning major trophies.

HWTL!