One of the stranger cameos on a thunderous night at St James’ Park on Monday featured Newcastle United’s Saudi chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan positioning himself on the touchline to greet the players and manager as they processed off after defeat to Liverpool.
Eddie Howe didn’t seem terribly impressed, judging by his rather indifferent response to the man in black suit and matching tie. The presence on the turf of Al-Rumayyan seemed to be about optics. Transmitting a sense that everything was under control, despite Alexander Isak’s desire to leave Newcastle for Liverpool being the dominant football story all summer.
Well, it is most certainly not and, rather unfortunately, Al-Rumayyan – ‘His Excellency’, as he is known to his underlings at the £3 trillion Saudi sovereign wealth fund he runs – is the reason why.
He is the one who sanctioned Newcastle’s former co-owner Amanda Staveley – the shining light after the club’s takeover – to offer Isak an enhanced contract to cement his loyalty to Newcastle and keep him happy.
He is the one who, having seen Staveley left Newcastle against her own wishes, sanctioned new sporting director Paul Mitchell’s withdrawal of that that offer and refusal to discuss a new deal. He is the one who did not foresee the obvious consequences. Offer a deal, take it away and say no more: in any walk of professional life, that’s a sure-fire strategy for estrangement.
Doubtless some of those in the Toon contingent who have labelled Isak a ‘Judas’, a ‘greedy bastard and ‘Pure Rat’ to quote a banner carried to the training ground, will be hugely affronted by the suggestion, but Isak is perfectly entitled to demand the right to leave in these circumstances.
Newcastle United’s Saudi chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan came down from his position in the stands to console the players after their dramatic defeat
Al-Rumayyan sanctioned Newcastle’s former co-owner Amanda Staveley to offer Isak an enhanced contract
The deal was later pulled by her successor Paul Mitchell, another move that was sanctioned by the Magpies chairman
It’s not just that withdrawal of cash which gives Isak every reason to want out. This is a club which currently lacks a sporting director, which has still not replaced its chief executive – 10 months after the last one stood down – and which has not built a promised new training ground. A club which has failed to significantly bolster the squad in this or previous transfer windows. A club which exudes barely any sign of that Saudi wealth at all.
There are, indeed, three more years to run on the contract Isak signed when arriving on Tyneside in a club-record £63 million move from Real Sociedad in 2022 and Newcastle have been the vehicle to elevate his profile and worth.
But this is not an attention-seeking teenager getting ahead of himself and struggling with the concept of professional respect. Isak has done the hard yards getting from where he once was to here and knows all about the hellish precipice.
After two years at Borussia Dortmund, his career seemed to be going backwards and a loan deal to the obscurity of the Dutch second tier, where he flourished, earned the Real Sociedad move which saw him soar. The rise to fame at Newcastle also took time.
It is against that backdrop that Liverpool’s £110million offer for him, on August 1st, should be viewed, with the prospect of a Premier League title and Champions League success in the five short years left before he turns 30. Can Newcastle really offer him the same in that time frame? Given what we have seen of the Saudis ambition and strategic oversight, almost certainly not.
In the Sky Sports studio on Monday night, Thierry Henry offered a reminder of how precarious the brief football peak of a player like Isak can be. ‘It’s because he’s good that people are upset,’ Henry said of him. ‘When a player is playing badly and the club wants him out, I don’t see anyone crying for the player.’
The Premier League is currently full of examples of what Henry was describing. Players who are suddenly all too dispensable, in an era when such individuals are more like tradable commodities than ever before.
In a piece I wrote on English football’s Lost Boys, a few months back, I related the story of Raheem Sterling, ostracised barely two years after Chelsea had thrown a lucrative contract at him and begged him to sign because the incoming Enzo Maresca decided he didn’t fancy him.
Isak’s decision to go on strike to force through a move away has drawn the ire of Magpies fans
Manchester United’s Rasmus Højlund has publicly stated that he wants to stay at the club but he is now nearing a move to Napoli as the Red Devils try to balance the books
In 2008, Sir Alex Ferguson flew to Lisbon and, over dinner, promised Cristiano Ronaldo he would have his wish of joining Real Madrid if he would give him one more year
Chelsea were so convinced they could weigh Sterling off to Saudi Arabia that they’d completed the paperwork before the player had even agreed to go. Sterling called their bluff in the face of this disgraceful treatment.
Manchester United’s Rasmus Højlund, another flavour of the month when signed for £72m from Atalanta in 2023, has publicly stated that he wants to stay at the club he supported as a boy, despite his tough time there. But United want him out to help balance the books.
Crystal Palace defender Marc Guéhi wants to see out the final year of his contract at Selhurst Park, despite interest from Liverpool and Newcastle, but the idea of him leaving as a free agent is a problem for Palace, who’d rather offload.
Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson has become persona non grata having felt he was wanted and showed promise.
It would be easier to empathise with Newcastle if they’d displayed an iota of emotional intelligence that other clubs have displayed situations like this in modern times.
I remember sitting in Liverpool FC’s city centre offices, 11 years back, on a conference call the club’s American owners had granted correspondents of their club, after Arsenal had placed a bid of £40million plus £1 for Luis Suarez, having established that he had a £40million buy-out clause.
You instinctively knew that the collective intelligence of these men would be brought to the problem, which wrecked that season’s build-up in just the same way that Liverpool’s own bid for Isak has now. Ultimately, money talked that summer, but communication, diplomacy and a pursuit of common ground sealed the deal which saw Suarez stay.
It was the same when Cristiano Ronaldo made it clear to Manchester United he wanted to satisfy a lifetime’s ambition to play for Real Madrid and leave Old Trafford in the summer of 2008.
Al-Rumayyan appears to have felt that a visit to Isak at his Northumberland home on Monday would be enough. But this one required rather more than a social call
Sir Alex Ferguson flew into Lisbon and, over dinner, promised the player he would have his wish if he would give him one more year. Ronaldo, already a superstar by then, was charmed. ‘My coach was kind enough to come and visit me in Lisbon,’ he told a Portuguese confidante, a few days later.
‘His Excellency’ appears to have felt that a visit to Isak at his Northumberland home on Monday would be enough. But this one required rather more than a social call. The player’s strategy might not enamour him to many, but he has outgrown a club who have failed to convince him they can match his ambition. Isak has reinforced his wish to leave and, frankly, who can blame him?
