Daniel Wales reports as Newcastle attempt to keep ahold of Alexander Isak from Liverpool, whilst also battling the Reds for Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike.
00:00Newcastle United have become embroiled in a transfer saga that looks set to be the main talking point of this summer's window.
00:09It involves Liverpool, Alexander Isaac and Hugo Eketike. But just which way will it go?
00:16The situation is this. Newcastle United have been looking to sign Eintracht Frankfurt's young French forward Hugo Eketike
00:23and had placed a bid in the region of ÂŁ70m. This was then rebuffed by Eintracht Frankfurt who said they wanted around the ÂŁ80m mark, perhaps even more than that.
00:34But of course this opened the door for Liverpool, or at least that's what they thought, to sniff in around Alexander Isaac and test the waters there.
00:42But the reports that are coming in suggest that Newcastle have firmly said no on this regard.
00:48And so Liverpool say now that they will try to go in for Eketike from Frankfurt instead.
00:54And so it becomes something of a race to get Eketike if Liverpool are not able to sign Alexander Isaac from Newcastle,
01:01which would appear to be the current state of affairs.
01:05Let's go now to Joe Buck of the Shields Gazette. Joe, what are your thoughts on the rumours so far?
01:11Yeah, I think the one thing for Isaac for me is the Liverpool links are obviously genuine.
01:14You know, they are looking for a striker. I've always had the worry that Isaac, you know, may go abroad.
01:19If you're Real Madrid, you're Barcelona, Bayern Munich, if one of them come in, you know, for any player in world football, they're going to go.
01:25So I think Newcastle would probably prefer to sell them as well.
01:27I think it would hurt them a lot if they lined up against Isaac either, you know, next season or whatever in a couple of years' time.
01:34So, see, you know, knocking Liverpool out of the race with Isaac might work,
01:37might work, but I do think that you'll still, this time next year, have a lot of interest in Isaac if he doesn't sign the contract.
01:43He also might sign the contract with release clauses and all that.
01:46It's all hypothetical at the minute, but yeah, it is 4-D chess.
01:50And it's really interesting to see how clubs sort of work around that and what, just what Newcastle do something,
01:56how that impacts Liverpool, how that impacts whoever else.
01:59Yeah, it is one of the intricacies of the transfer market.
02:02And fortunately, we're talking about this having, Newcastle haven't already signed a player,
02:06because we could be talking about this and Newcastle still haven't got any business done
02:08and we're worried that they're not doing anything.
02:10So at least they've done something.
02:11And to see them being linked with players like this is really exciting.
02:15It is indeed, yes, of course.
02:16Newcastle already have Anthony Alanga through the door at St James' Park.
02:20He's training with the first team now in Austria on their pre-season training camp.
02:25Of course, it's perhaps worth noting from Newcastle's point of view that, yes, they've had PSR issues in the past,
02:31but the statement they could make by either just holding on to Alexander Isak or getting Eketike as well as keeping Isak
02:38would be monumental.
02:40But what else do they need in this transfer window?
02:44Yeah, I think for me that the priority has to be in centre-half.
02:47I think last season Fabian Cher and Dan Byrne did really well, not just to stay fit,
02:51but the level of performances they put in week after week.
02:53But I don't think he can rely on that next year.
02:55Obviously, Sven Botman is coming back, and it's great to see him back.
02:58How long he can stay fit for, no one really knows.
03:00You know, the player himself won't know.
03:02The staff won't know how many minutes he can play next year.
03:05So I think centre-back has to be one of their main priorities,
03:10whether that's someone who can, you know, like, for example, Mark Gay,
03:13he can come in and start every game,
03:14or whether they go for someone abroad and think, right, we're going to have,
03:17like they might do with that, give them a year to bet in,
03:19and then they become the starter sort of next season.
03:22And that's the decision they have to make.
03:24But, yeah, the money they're going to spend, or they've already spent already,
03:27potential negative game means that there is limited, not limited funds,
03:31because that makes it scare-mongering that they haven't got much money.
03:34But there is, you know, there is a limit of what they can spend because of PSR.
03:40Selling Longstaff and Willick does open up a few doors and unlocks a little bit.
03:44But, again, if you sell Longstaff and Willick, for example,
03:46you're then going to have to probably buy another central midfielder
03:48because you're going to go into the season with, you know, really four options.
03:51And if you stick to the 4-3-3 formation, that's, you know,
03:55that's not very many other options if there's an injury in there.
03:58So it's a lot of moving parts.
04:01And I think the James Trafford one, for me, is one that it would be a shame
04:06for them not to get it done because we know how much, you know,
04:08James Trafford wanted to join, how much they admire him.
04:11But when you've got Nick Polk there and Martin Dubravka
04:14showed in last season, you've got probably two very solid goalkeepers.
04:17And maybe you can knock that priority back till next year.
04:20But all that does, if you do wait till next year to sign a goalkeeper,
04:23every club in World Football knows how desperate you are for a goalkeeper.
04:25And then their prices, you know, increase.
04:28So, yeah, it's a real tough situation.
04:30I do have a lot of sympathy for anyone making transfer decisions,
04:33but particularly Newcastle because, yeah, it's not an easy decision.
04:36Anything you do now has a knock-down impact in 12 months' time.
04:40And, yeah, it's going to be a very interesting summer.
