Who Alexander Isak should really blame for Newcastle nightmare, CRAIG HOPE reveals all in Q&A with M+ subscribers

Newcastle United’s turbulent summer has been dominated by uncertainty at the top of the club and the future of star striker Alexander Isak. From boardroom upheaval to transfer market frustration, it has been a window that has raised more questions than answers on Tyneside.

Daily Mail Sport’s Chief Football Reporter Craig Hope has been at the forefront of that reporting, breaking the key stories around Isak’s discontent and Liverpool’s interest. With unrivalled access and insight into both sides of the saga, he has been able to explain why the situation developed as it did, and why Newcastle’s inability to secure replacements has been as important as Liverpool’s willingness to pay a record fee.

In this exclusive Q&A, Craig answers supporters’ questions on the biggest talking points of the summer. Isak’s future takes centre stage, from the broken promises that soured his relationship with the club to the high-stakes decision Newcastle now face over whether to reintegrate or sell their record signing.

What on earth is going on at Newcastle United? This is a horrible way to start the season 

Well, it’s far from desirable and if you go back to the last day of last season when Newcastle stumbled into the Champions League with that home defeat against Everton, everything did seem rosy.

The PSR situation had been addressed. We thought and well I say we thought, listen, I’m going to address this during the course of the evening, what I knew about Alexander Isak going back one month, two month, 12 months. But certainly when the season finished, there was hope and there was optimism that the big names like Isak, Tonali, Anthony Gordon, Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, they were being given the platform they needed to stay and to commit their future to the club.

Isak and Gordon in particular, the ones where there’s been all that noise around. There was the big budget to spend, there was Champions League football to offer. Then the further we got away from the end of the season, and again, I try not to shine a light on magic… but how you break these stories. I was on a beach when I got the word that Paul Mitchell was leaving the club.

I don’t think Newcastle wanted that news to be out there at the time. We broke it two or three minutes before they did. I think there was a lot of scrambling around during a frantic few hours. And what was it? Late May, early June at the time. And then Paul Mitchell went and that was really the start of this. I think turbulent is one way to describe what has played out. Paul Mitchell went, which left Newcastle United without a sporting director.

Darren Eales… now for 10 months the club have known that Darren Eales was going. That left them with an outgoing CEO and with an absolute void and an absolute vacuum at C-suite executive level heading into what is and what still should be and could be one of the most pivotal summers in the club’s history – with that Champions League football behind them, with those budgetary possibilities, if you like, with a brilliant manager, with the core of a brilliant team who I and others on the inside honestly believe this summer was only two or three away, not just from renewing and stamping their Champions League ticket and becoming that team season on season, but actually if one or two had an off year this year like Manchester United did – goodness Manchester United absolutely did – it was Manchester City I was talking about, like Manchester City did last season, couldn’t Newcastle even be an outside shout for the title.

That was the confidence and the optimism and the buzz and the enthusiasm that was around it coming out of the back end of last season. Mitchell then goes and then everything starts to unravel around Alexander Isak.

Now I know you guys say, ‘you knew he was unhappy, why didn’t you say this before? Why did you only choose to break that story when you did?’

Well, I’ll point you to some of my coverage coming out of the previous season. I was the reporter in September, early October who broke the story that there weren’t contract talks. Up until that point it was still being reported far and wide that Newcastle was set to reward Alexander Isak with a new deal. That wasn’t the case. And Alexander Isak had started the season the way he did with one goal in seven because of what, I was going to say what happened in the summer, because of what didn’t happen in the summer.

I just want to retrace steps here and lay this almost as the groundwork in this bank of knowledge that you need and we need going forward, to understand and provide context for everything around Isak, because there are one or two questions on Isak! And I appreciate there are Liverpool fans here who have joined in too – welcome.

Last March, Amanda Stavely and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, the co-owners, at the time, they had discussions with Alexander Isak and his camp. They thought he was worth and deserving of a pay increase. Alexander Isak is paid well by the terms of, you know, you or I, the layman on the street, but was he being paid at a level that reflected his talent? No, he wasn’t, and there was a recognition of that internally.

Because of that, Amanda Stavely and Mehrdad Ghodoussi had those conversations and there was a soft promise, if you like, to revisit in the summer, addressing what they thought was scope to improve his contract.

Now that was two-fold. One, it was because they thought it was deserved. It’s three-fold actually, I’ll upgrade it. Two, because they knew it would keep the player happy. And three, because they thought it would avoid an eventuality like the one we’ve landed on this summer. And we still are in the midst of this. This isn’t over guys. Last night, Alexander Isak’s bombshell statement and the club’s response, this isn’t the end of it. We aren’t here for a wrap-up. I’m going to give you my opinion and my information on what comes next. There’s 11, 12 days to go, I lose track, I really do, you keep me right, but there’s far more to come.

I’ll tell you what I know, I’ll tell you what I think is going to happen. But first of all, where was I? I was at last summer. So they arrive at the summer and there is still that expectation from Isak’s camp that they’re going to have these talks. Now, Amanda Stavely and Mehrdad Ghodoussi left the club against their wishes, they didn’t want to go. Again, there’s an article out there for you if you search, which details all of the politics that went on in the background.

Fascinating, you know. Shakespeare had nothing on Newcastle United! Newcastle United is, as a journalist, I’m blessed. Am I cursed? I’ll go with blessed. Fans might feel sometimes it’s a curse, but goodness, you know, it gives us plenty to go at. Amanda and Mehrdad, they go, they don’t want to go. A new hierarchical structure is formed primarily of only two people. Darren Eales, the chief executive, and Paul Mitchell the incoming sporting director.

Immediately, and this isn’t without reason guys, this is a cold hard business decision Paul Mitchell makes. And there’s a degree of understanding to it. Newcastle had just gone through that torturous last week in June when they had to sell Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh against their wishes, again to satisfy that PSR deficit. They floated the idea of selling Anthony Gordon to Liverpool. Come back to me on that, ask questions on Gordon. I spoke to him out in the Far East. Fascinating exchange that was.

On the back of that, Paul Mitchell said, ‘hold on a minute, you’ve got four years left on your contract. You’re already among the very highest earners. Why would we give you a pay rise when we don’t have to? Not only does it endanger us potentially again from a PSR perspective, (even though some of my sources have denied that it would have done that), but it also means the others are going to knock on the door and want more money.’ So I do understand the cold hard accountancy decision. What it didn’t account for was the human being at the end of it and the brilliant footballer at the end of it.

My sources and people internally genuinely do believe, now with no way of knowing if this would be the case or not, they genuinely believe if they’d given Alexander Isak the contract and the money he thought he was deserving, and again we’ll use that term, soft promise that was coming down the line last summer, none of this would have played out.

So we go forward 12 months, arrive at the end of the season and by this point Alexander Isak feels he has missed out on a year’s worth of money he was owed. Let’s call it if it was going to be a £100,000 pay rise, what’s that over the course of a year? That’s £5million gross he thinks he’s missed out on. Because of that, his mind is made up, broken promises to come back to the statement last night. He’s checked out. He checked out last summer guys. I wrote this, there was a little bit of row back at the time in some quarters against it. If you go back, I said he wasn’t happy. I said there was an unsettled dressing room there and that Eddie Howe was having to put out fires coming out of last summer.

That was Alexander Isak. It was remarkable what he did in getting Isak back on board. Look at the first seven games of the season, one goal in seven. I was at a lot of those games, most of those games, all those games. Alexander Isak played like a drain. The body language was bad, it was terrible. Eddie recognised that. Rather than call out the player or drop him or do, employ tactics the previous managers may have done, he brought him in, he spoke to him, he employed that empathy and those unrivalled man management skills that he has.

We’ll get to this as well, Newcastle are lucky for me that they’ve got the best manager in the Premier League, Europe, the world, I’ll go as far as whatever you want me to say on Eddie Howe, he’s magnificent. He employed all of those skills to get Alexander Isak back in the building, that was the phrase they used internally, back in the building. So after one goal in seven from the start of season, what does he then do?

Remarkably, he scores 27 goals, including the winner in a Carabao Cup final against of all teams, Liverpool. He was magnificent. He was wonderful. What then happened in the last six or seven guys, he checked out. He was gone. Am I going to use the word refuse? I’ll not use the word refuse, but if you want to, okay, we’ll go with the word refuse. There was the Arsenal game, second last week of the season. Certainly some internally thought that Alexander Isak was fit to play in that game he pulled out on the morning of in London, he was there in London with the team.

From that point on there was just that feeling that Isak’s mind – having delivered and done brilliantly and wonderfully, and he’d answered Eddie’s call for action, he’d been tremendous – but he was gone at this point. They kept him in the team because there were no alternatives. If there had been a viable alternative, and I know Callum Wilson was there, he wasn’t really quite at it at the time, that had there been a viable alternative, Alexander Isak might even of come out of the tea. I watched what you guys saw – that the performances did drop off from that point on.

We arrive at the end of the season, coming out the end of season, and Alexander Isak does then communicate that he wants to go and Newcastle know this now internally. Now, we get to July and Newcastle at this point have explored alternatives, they’ve looked at ways to facilitate the sale of Alexander Isak.

I break the story. I was on a waterslide in Singapore and I jumped off that to break the story that Alexander Isak wanted to go. I’ll quickly tell you that. You know, I was on our excellent podcast, Whistleblowers, a couple of weeks ago and I told it. So I do apologise if you’ve heard this once before, but bear with me really quickly.

I had my Apple Watch on and I was around the water park with the kids. It was the last day, it was the last hybrid day before I was working. Newcastle were flying over. I had my wife and my three children with me. I thought I’ll give them the water park before I disappear and they don’t see me. And I knew if Isak didn’t get on that plane that it could be all systems go for me to try and get this story over the line that Isak wants to quit. So I had my Apple Watch on going around the water park, happy enough thinking, no, nothing’s happening, not much is coming on here (my watch).

I then went back to the sunbed with one of the children to put some sun cream on them. I didn’t realise you’ve actually got to be in range of your iPhone for your watch to pick up the notifications. So I went back to the sunbed and like it is now, my arm started vibrating. I thought I had some sort of shake incident from going down the slide the wrong way. Not so, it was my phone telling me that all of these messages had landed.. you know, this was about to break.

So my young boy never got the sun cream. Tremendous tan by the way. Yeah. Three days later, zero protection. So yeah, I didn’t see my family for the next four or five days. But from that point on, when I broke the story that Isak wasn’t on the plane, later that he told the club he wanted to go, everything unraveled to where we are now. And I’m going to use your questions to tell the story of what has happened in that period. So, let’s go…

Is there still a chance Alexander Isak will join Liverpool?

I’ll give you a yes or no. Yes, yes there is.

I’ll deal in percentages here, because as I say, I was the reporter who broke the story, and I think I’ve been tremendously close to this in terms of having a feel, be that through information, be that through exposure to the protagonists involved, and a gut instinct on top of all of that, as to whether Alexander Isak will be sold or not.

Now, when I was out in South Korea and Singapore, I would have put the odds on the deal happening at 70-30 in favour of it going ahead. I knew that some of those inside Newcastle had accepted Isak’s position.

His position is not without merit in terms of his sporting and financial motives. He wants to go and play for the Premier League champions. He wants to go and not just play in the Champions League, but compete for winning the Champions League.

If he’s being given a double-your-money lucrative contract, I understand and so do others inside Newcastle, the appeal of that. Isak, to be fair to him, there was also sporting frustrations. Some of the promises in terms of infrastructure and development and investment in the squad hadn’t been met.

You know, when he talks about broken promises, look away perhaps from the contract and from the money. This was a player, a top player who had seen three transfer windows pass without anybody else coming in.

When Newcastle returned on the first day of pre-season training, I know the players were joking, where’s the new signings? Well, there was zero. So that feeling still lingered for him.

So to be fair to Alexander Isak, this isn’t just a greedy money grab. There are sporting reasons too, and there was some understanding for that on the inside. Now, because of that, and because by this point he was making his feelings known that he didn’t want to play for the club again, Newcastle were exploring a sale.

It had to be though on their terms. Now what were their terms? This is something they’ve confirmed in the club statement last night. Their terms were an acceptable club record package somewhere approaching £150million.

Now I honestly believe, and this isn’t based on instinct, this is based on conversations, I honestly believe and understand that a deal starting at somewhere around £130million perhaps plus add-ons could have been enough to generate movement if Liverpool had offered that.

And crucially, if Newcastle had in the replacements that were palatable. You can never replace Alexander Isak. We’re using the wrong word here. I hope you know by extension what I mean when I use the word replacement. There’s a reason we talk about him as the best striker in the world, but could they have brought in the players, two players, who when you looked at Isak and Wilson out, those two together, you would have thought as a fan, as a club, as Eddie Howe, as a journalist covering it, yeah, okay, over the course of a season that might actually be an upgrade and produce more.

Say it had have been, Yoane Wissa and Benjamin Sesko. Sesko plus Wissa, could they have produced more than Isak and Wilson over the course of a season? Plus, you bank that British record £130m, plus add ons, perhaps rising to £150m. Well yeah, I think that would have been a palatable deal. Newcastle were exploring that. Newcastle would have gone down that avenue. Key players on the inside had opened their mind to that.

So that is why when I’m out there, I’m saying it’s 70-30. Then we go on. And when the Sesko deal didn’t happen again, I’ll shine a little light on magic. Coming back here, I was flying back from Seoul and unfortunately the plane had Wi-Fi. I was looking forward to 12 hours where I could just switch off. But I got on, first thing I saw on the KLM jet was yet Wi-Fi available. From 36,000 feet that night, I broke the story on the Monday night: Newcastle were absolutely pushing ahead to sign Benjamin Sesko.

They had that day been given encouragement that Sesko wanted to join. Now when I broke that story Newcastle were in the process of sending or having sent a really high-powered delegation to get this deal done. The messing about was over. If they had done that deal – there was always the suspicion it was being used to smoke out Manchester United, a suspicion that came to fruition that proved to be right – but if they had done that deal, they had signed Benjamin Sesko (Isak would have gone), going back even further, they had signed Joao Pedro at the start of June. Joao Pedro wasn’t being brought into play with Alexander Isak, don’t believe that noise that was put out. Isak, Ekitike… and I’m going to revisit Ekitike very shortly.

Isak, Ekiteke, Sesko, Delap even, they were all the players who would have facilitated that Isak sale. Newcastle were open to that. So when the Sesko deal doesn’t happen, Newcastle return to the UK to the backdrop of that.

Alexander Isak is telling them he doesn’t want to train with his team, doesn’t want to be there. He misses those two friendlies, adding to the toxicity around the situation. Newcastle were still looking for those two players. Now Liverpool, when we were out in Singapore, had the £110million offer rejected. They knew that was going to be rejected. It was almost just like a token, you know, let’s raise the curtain and, you know, game on, kick off. They knew. They were talking informally about a £120million offer previously, a week, two, three weeks earlier – £110m was always going to be knocked back. What it did was it got the ball rolling and when Liverpool briefed that night that no, they weren’t going to return, they were walking away – absolutely utter nonsense, they hadn’t come this far, they hadn’t given Isak that encouragement to behave the way he did without coming back for more.

I still believe they will come back for more again. As I said guys, this isn’t over, definitely not over, but when they got back in the UK and Sesko didn’t happen and they looked at that list – and they’re working to two lists: Isak replacement, Wilson replacement – all of a sudden, those lists merged into one. And those inside Newcastle looked at it and thought, especially given the delay on Wissa, when they looked at those lists, they thought, we’re struggling to get one in here, never mind two, and Liverpool haven’t yet returned with that offer.

So the more it went on the less chance there was of Isak going and my 70-30 went down to 50-50. Now, as I came out of this weekend and as there was the further delays to Wissa and the phrase that was being used, ‘this one now is now in doubt’ when you hear terms like that and all of the other names and, ‘Ramos might not happen, we don’t know if he wants to come’. Strand Larsen, they like at Wolves. ‘But, no, Wolves don’t want to sell’. That could be a fee higher than Newcastle are prepared to go to.

Based on all of that, it felt 90-10 that Alexander Isak would be staying at Newcastle – not because they haven’t explored a sale or been open to a sale, but because they’ve got no choice – they’re gonna have to gamble on reintegrating him, and no player on September 1, with a World Cup season and their career at the peak of their powers for me, and this was the belief internally, would then say, ‘tell you what, I’m just going to play for the 21s this season.’

And given everything Eddie Howe did last season to get Isak back onside, and he comes back into a 52,000 seater stadium with supporters who loved him, love him, and teammates who’ll put their arm around him, playing Champions League football. There was that belief that Isak would come on board.

Then we had last night’s developments. Now, his statement. Sources think that was Alexander Isak clutching at straws. It might just have been the straw that broke Newcastle United’s back. Because for Isak to release that incendiary, inflammatory statement that for me and for others, disrespected the club who’ve made him into the player that he is, the manager and the coaching staff who have taken him from a Real Sociedad striker who scored less than 10 goals in the league in his last season to one who was scoring 27 goals in the Premier League and valued at £150million.

All they have done for him, the supporters who have cheered and supported him every step and every goal along the way, none more so than that spine tingling, brilliant moment at Wembley. For him to release that statement that he did last night was two fingers to all of that.

I think there was an alternative. I’ve said this in print at Daily Mail+ there was a different way he could have gone about it. I’m on record as saying and this is shared by some of those internally – there was a degree of sympathy to his situation, to his motivations.

There’s also a degree of sympathy to him being badly advised in terms of the course of action he has taken, there was a different way. Last night did not go down well.

I broke the story 20 minutes before the club’s statement landed that inside Newcastle now there was a new resolve, a real hardening of their stance. Previously when you’ve asked the question all summer, is he for sale? No, he’s not for sale. Will he be sold? Maybe. They’re two very different questions, guys.

Alexander Isak has never been for sale. Newcastle don’t want to sell him. Scenario A has always been that he’s reintegrated. He comes back into the fold and this whole Liverpool thing and the desire to want away goes away.

That was Scenario A, but they were open to it, a sale. Last night, that changed. He is not for sale and he won’t be sold, not on the back of this, they said. Now the question was, I’m coming full circle here from the Liverpool fan, is there still a chance? I’ve been talking that long, my computer’s locked itself. Is there still a chance? Yeah, there is. Now why do I say that? Because Newcastle are still looking for two strikers. The Wissa deal is still very much live. They still are exploring Gonzalo Ramos. They still very much like Strand Larson at Wolves. He’s the next cab off the rank guys. I really do believe if Wissa goes west or if Ramos doesn’t happen, I would actually put Larson ahead of Ramos in terms of that.

That need for a striker, they still need one. They need Callum Wilson’s replacement. But if they did somehow get Wissa signed, Larsson happened or another from left field we haven’t yet spoken about or a previous deal, a Jackson or whatever was revived and Liverpool returned with a big offer, I think it would probably have to be more than that, £120m, £130m now, wouldn’t Newcastle consider it?

Well yeah, the word in the club statement last night almost is invite, the wrong word, or certainly left the door ajar to that when they said the conditions for a sale haven’t been met yet. Let me put this another way, let’s be silly and take it to extremes. Newcastle don’t want to sell Alexander Isak and they say now on the back of the statement, and the chances of bringing in two strikers which I’m told is very remote. They’re saying he’s going nowhere now, he’s going to be told that.

Let’s be silly and say Liverpool turn around tomorrow and say, well tell you what, there’s £500million. Newcastle would sell, absolutely sell. Now that isn’t going to happen but the example I use and the point I make is there is a breaking point for every player in every club, in every deal. So while a player is not for sale and they don’t want to sell, even if Newcastle had one in, if it was Wissa , whoever, and Liverpool came back with something stupid beyond £150m, is that stupid?

Totally wrong word. If Liverpool had come back with something ambitious beyond £150m, wouldn’t Newcastle do a deal? They’d have a decision to make. So that is why in response to the Liverpool supporter who asked the question, is there still a chance he goes to Liverpool? Yes, there’s still a chance. Goodness, guys, the amount of twists and turns this has had and there’s 11 days to go.

Are we done yet? I’m fully expecting something happens during the course of the next hour during this broadcast, I really am!

What happened with Hugo Ekitike and Newcastle? 

I was in a theme park when this broke. I’ve worked very hard this summer guys and I’m going to go to sleep in September. I haven’t slept for three weeks now, but I did have a very nice time pre all of this in Asia, with my wife and my three little boys.

So yeah, Ekitike. Newcastle made an offer. Deadly serious. Player they really like. Now if that deal had happened and they hadn’t been gazumped by Liverpool… if they hadn’t been gazumped by Liverpool, Newcastle had signed Hugo Ekitike as was possible, as was planned. If Liverpool hadn’t come along… that deal could have happened. Alexander Isak would be a Liverpool player by now.

So when Isak last night in a statement directs his angst and his ire towards Newcastle and talks about broken relationships and broken promises at his current club, the club who have done everything I’ve just listed for him, isn’t that anger misplaced?

Shouldn’t he and his camp be asking questions of Liverpool? The club who supposedly are ready and willing and want to move heaven and earth to bring him in and make him their poster boy signing of the summer? They could have done if they hadn’t gazumped the selling club with the player who would have been Alexander Isak’s replacement. It’s absolutely mind boggling. Hugo Ekitike goes to Newcastle, Alexander Isak goes to Liverpool.

I can’t get my head around that one. I know there’s those on the inside and around Newcastle who can’t either. So it was important to revisit that.

We saw your breaking news on Wissa, as a Spurs fan I love him – what’s the latest? 

How far do we have to go back on Wissa? Let’s just go back to this morning. So Newcastle, on the back of everything that happened last night with Alexander Isak made an offer today.

I was the reporter who broke Newcastle’s interest in Wssa in my Newcastle Confidential column at Daily Mail+ three, four weeks ago and, at the time, it was met with raised eyebrows.

But no, they like Wissa. Wissa makes a lot of sense. If you want me to insert my opinion here, I think Wissa would be a wonderful signing. He scored 19 goals last season for Brentford. Alexander Isak scored 23 for Newcastle. Four more goals and a far better team. What could Wissa do in Newcastle’s team?

I like him and they do internally. Given their record on recruitment, I trust their judgment as well, like I do with all of the other signings this summer. Okay, so Wissa, they want him, they like him and crucially, all summer long, guys, this is why they’ve waited. They’ve been given encouragement. They know that Wissa is desperate to join them. That wasn’t the case with Sesko and some others. It’s why they’ve waited. It’s why they’ve been patient in the belief that when Brentford got the deal done, and Outtara was the player Brentford were going to to unlock that property chain if you like, that domino effect.

Now Outtara came in and they haven’t let Wissa go to Newcastle. Newcastle returned today with an offer of £35 million plus £5 million add-ons. A deal which if you’re applying the sniff test, common sense test, that is acceptable for a player who’s 29 next month and has two years left on his deal and has given the club that level of service and who we’re led to believe was given a promise a year ago that he could move on this summer.

That offer has now been, I can reveal, formally rejected. Newcastle aren’t going in with an improved offer because now there’s a feeling it isn’t about money. They’ll be bidding against themselves. That package there, the 35 plus five, that is what Brentford should deal at and what it is hoped they will deal at.

What is the story I broke earlier? Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham Hotspur are tonight, today, considering offering Richarlison to Crystal Palace as part of the deal that would potentially see Eboretti Eze go to Spurs.

Why is that significant for Wissa in Newcastle? Because if they remove Richarlison, he goes to Crystal Palace or any club, they have then got the funds and the space to go for Wissa. Tottenham want Wissa and this is the big twist guys and this is what’s caused anger: Brentford want to sell Wissa to Tottenham. They don’t want him to go to Newcastle.

Why is that? Well, only they can answer that. My information is because of that pre-existing relationship with Thomas Frank, because Frank left Brentford, only a couple of months ago, went over to Spurs, big admirer of Wissa, he wants to be reunited, he knows the value that he could bring to Spurs, he wants to bring him in.

The problem is, Wissa wants to join Newcastle. That is what he’s got his heart set on, that move. So the politics that are at play here now, guys, behind the scenes, Brentford will tell him, Wissa, ‘we want you to go to Spurs.’ That is why I’m told they’ve delayed and delayed and delayed.

Tottenham need to get their house in order, their ducks in a row before they can bring Wissa in. Which is why Richarlison now, a player bless him who scored two goals at the weekend in the opening weekend victory. What’s he going to do this weekend to stay, score three? Poor lad. They are now offering him up as that part exchange? Will it happen? We don’t know. Richarlison, what we’re led to believe, doesn’t really want to go and Arsenal are still there, sniffing around for Eze and Arsenal might just be Eze’s preferred destination. But whether it happens or not doesn’t matter.

It shines a light on the politics and the moves that are being made behind the scenes here. And you have got Wissa, a player who has been kept at Brentford now against his will. He believes he had that promise from the hierarchy last summer to go this year, 12 months on. Where does he want to go? He wants to go to Newcastle. Tellingly, it’s my information he hasn’t yet been fined.

Now if Wissa was refusing to play or train, he would be fined. The club know for me, my information, again you’ll have to put this back on them, my information is the club know they had that agreement with him. But they’re delaying the Newcastle offer, they’re rejecting Newcastle’s offer because they want him to go to Spurs. Now wow, what a development that is and you can read all about it in depth at Daily Mail Sport.

Are Newcastle still in for Ollie Watkins? 

Good question. When I broke the story of Newcastle’s interest in Wissa, it was with Ollie Watkins attached to it. It was putting two new names on that shortlist. Newcastle really like Ollie Watkins, Eddie Howe and his staff, because of the journey they have been on. Absolutely because of the journey they have been on, what they have done. Taken Bournemouth from where they did to the Premier League. They like Watkins. They like that profile of player. The player who is hungry. The player who’s bettered himself, a player who’s got every last ounce out of himself, Ollie Watkins has.

I know Newcastle admire that. I cover England as well as the Chief Football Reporter for the Mail. I’ve been around Watkins, he’s a good character. I think he’s a Newcastle type player. But to answer the question, the word coming back to them is no, he’s not available. That is why they’re focused on Wissa.

Now would Wissa and Watkins have ever come in as a pair? I think Eddie Howe and others on the football side of things would have been okay with that. I know they would have been okay with that. They like both players, they’re both on the list. Would PIF the owners have sanctioned a 28 and a 29 year old coming in for the money it takes? No, I don’t think they would have done. And that’s not without reason.

They want a type of profile, they want an Isak type with that scope for improvement in terms of what they do, you know, in terms of that actual physical development, but also the monetary scope for that profit down the line, as we’re going to see potentially, or maybe not, with Alexander Isak.

So I understand that. The message from above is yes, one older one, okay. Wissa for the moment, all roads lead to Wissa being that player. But that is why they went for Ekitike. That’s why they went for Liam Delap, Benjamin Sesko, others in that bracket. They were the ones who would satisfy the younger player with scope for improvement. To answer the question, Ollie Watkins, Newcastle don’t believe now is available.

Is there a knock-on effect with Nicolas Jackson going to Villa and Watkins being available?

Maybe, but we’re not there yet. That’s ifs and buts and more dominoes of course it is, and the message Newcastle are getting back on a lot of players right now is we need the replacement in before we allow that player to go, and Newcastle are saying well we need the replacement in before we allow you to go.

Everything is stuck and it might be the case for the next four or five days we don’t see movement until the very last hours of the window. So stay tuned across all my platforms guys as I said at the top. This really is far from over.

Nicolas Jackson’s on the list. Absolutely. I don’t think he’s particularly high on the list as some reports have suggested. Is he a good player? Is he a good profile? Has he got good numbers? Has he got scope for improvement? Yes, yes, yes.

But are there one or two doubts there with regards things away from that? Newcastle won’t sign players for the sake of it. Don’t forget, Nicolas Jackson missed the opening weekend of the season because he was suspended. Why was he suspended? Because he hit a Newcastle player in the face. By extension, you can probably understand one of the two reservations that exist internally when it comes to Nicolas Jackson. So I hope I’ve answered that.

Assume we do let Isak go, is there any way they can dictate he doesn’t go to another Premier League club? 

I mean, yes, they can. In theory, they can say to Alexander, Isak, we don’t want you to go to Liverpool, we’re only going to sell you to Barcelona when they get their act together or PSG, whoever it may be. That hasn’t been the case.

Newcastle have been open to the Liverpool sale, which goes back to what I spoke to earlier. They’ve explored the conditions around the sale, the two replacements in and then extracting the maximum value they can from Liverpool.

Will Liverpool leave it late to try and drive down the price? 

No, I don’t think so. In all of this guys, I don’t think Newcastle and Liverpool, or Liverpool coming back with an acceptable offer, has been the biggest mountain to overcome. I think the harder part of this is Newcastle bringing in the players that would then give Liverpool the encouragement to return with that British record offer, which they would.

Again, you know, I’ve had lots of conversations around this and one of them was Liverpool haven’t come this far just to abandon it. So I don’t think Liverpool putting up the money for Alexander Isak is the issue here.

Will they come in late with a low ball offer? Well they know the answer if they do. So no, that would be a ridiculous tactic to employ. Liverpool come back, I think, it will be with what would be an acceptable offer. Newcastle have then got the decision to make. Are they in the right place? What else has come in to proceed with that?

If Newcastle are so adamant that he’s not for sale, why is this saga not over and done with?

Because it’s not, because we’ve got a transfer window which runs until September 1. For me, this is a whole other different show. I wish the transfer window had shut last Thursday and we’d entered into the football talking about football.

As long as the window is open guys, this one continues.

If Donnarumma joins City, do you see us back in for Trafford next summer?

James Trafford, wow. Okay, James Trafford, Newcastle could and should have had done last summer. The player was desperate to join. I use that phrase about Wissa’s heart set on it. James Trafford has told anybody who would listen, he’s going to Newcastle. Newcastle saw him as a goalkeeper who would come in and compete with Nick Pope, not coming in immediately, take the number one jersey, but someone who could come in for a season and compete, give them better depth, an improvement and upgrade on Martin Dubravka.

But crucially it would give them scope to evolve as well. Look at Trafford’s skill set in terms of the balls he pings, he’s almost Jordan Pickford-esque in terms of that ability to play out with his feet and Eddie Howe wants to evolve with regards his goalkeeper. Nick Pope is okay but we all know Nick Pope’s kicking, you know, it’s sometimes heart in your mouth moment.

You poor folk who sit in the low rows of the East Stand, you’re ducking times when Pope is trying to pick out Anthony Gordon on the left wing. We do in the press box as well when he’s going towards the Millburn. And I love Nick Pope, by the way. But yeah, Trafford would allow them to move on for that.

They wanted Trafford, they needed Trafford. Trafford would have had a brilliant deal that made sense on so many levels. And then my old friend, Paul Mitchell.

Now Paul Mitchell annoyed and angered Burnley with his manner, so I’m told, the manner of his negotiation over the last 12 months. Burnley quite rightly said, ‘now if you value this player as much as you do, pay what we’re asking’ and the deal wasn’t outlandish, it wasn’t ridiculous. Yes it might have been a little bit over the odds but if you want that player go and pay it.

I think Burnley were within their rights to say that. Now the relationship broke down to such a point that between Burnley and Newcastle guys, honestly, it was almost irreparable and we’re saying now that Brentford want to sell Wissa to Tottenham. Burnley wanted to sell Trafford to anybody but Newcastle and that I’m told is because of Paul Mitchell.

Now Trafford eventually went to Manchester City and like Liam Delap going to Chelsea, Chelsea then went and brought in Joao Pedro, still looking at centre forwards. Man City now, or according to their reports and my colleagues on Manchester, Jack Gaughan and others, they’re exploring that deal for Donnarumma. Now if Donnarumma comes in, Champions League winner, you assume it’s to come and play. Would Newcastle still go back in for Trafford down the line? Don’t rule it out.

The Aaron Ramsdale move is only a loan with a view to a permanent at the end of the season. Ramsdale isn’t at this similar profile even though he’s younger than Nick Pope. In two or three years time he’ll be in the same position as Pope. With Trafford, the thought was they were getting a goalkeeper for not just three or four years, but a decade and beyond. Keep an eye on that situation again. We’re getting ahead of ourselves to a degree, Donnarumma hasn’t gone to City.

Have we completely abandoned the plans for a new stadium? 

Okay, I’ll take you inside my time out in the the Far East. Now, now you know I’ve had certain frustrations with Newcastle’s communication, engagement, there’s some very good people behind the scenes who wanted to be different and want the club to engage more with journalists and you guys as supporters. There’s been some effort to to to evolve to that from the Ashley era of zero communication.

Now yeah it was handy we were in South Korea if you’d popped over the border into North Korea their stance on communication is straight out of the Newcastle United playbook of old. In South Korea, Newcastle sought to change that. I’m gonna take you back to pre-trip I had frustrations and I’ve written about this where are PIF you know.

I wrote in October last year on the back of you guys asking me so many questions I answered the question for Daily Mail+, ‘do the Saudis still care?’ was the question. I spoke to so many people and at the end I gave a verdict of yes they absolutely still care but actions will speak louder than words. 

Ten months on what actions were there? There was nothing. No CEO. They’d known Darren Eales was going for a long time. There was no sporting director. There were no sign-ins. There was no stadium. There was no training ground. So my frustrations with PIF were at an all-time high. Come at frustrations, the wrong word. My want and my willingness to shine a light on all of this was at an all-time high coming into the summer. And they knew this. They knew this. Then heading out to the Far East, and I was there covering Tottenham and Arsenal as well, and there was a lot of, know, Tottenham and Arsenal were super engaged and they were sending me invites to talk to managers, players, commercial activations.

Newcastle hadn’t really committed to that and I was frustrated and I was saying come on, come on engage like there’s a different way here. Use us guys, you’re in the Far East, tell the world we’ve got big audiences. 

Treat us like the enemy, we’ll behave like the enemy. Bring us behind the curtain and give us a better understanding of what’s going on, and we reflect that. I don’t want the crown jewels. You don’t have to have a relationship with me, know, at a hierarchical PIF level. You have to ring me up and tell me what’s going on. I don’t want that. I want a level of understanding.

Out in the Far East, we got that. And on the back of that, coming back to the UK, there are moves currently being made to improve on that. And this goes back to the question, because I now feel in a better place to answer questions on the stadium. I’ve been, I’ve had time with the hierarchy off the record over coffee in the team hotel, in the foyer, bumping into them in a swimming pool with regards one of them, very pleasant that was too. 

Now if my kids hadn’t been there giving previous relationships and some of the stories I’ve done, might well have dunked me under, but it wasn’t. Throwing balls and everything, wonderful. Just shows you how if you engage and you interact and you sit down opposite someone, it’s beneficial for everyone.

I think learnings have been made from this summer. The access and my improved level of understanding in the forest was wonderful. It was brilliant. I got that. So can answer this question. 

Have we completely abandoned the plans for a new stadium upgrade? No, no, absolutely not. Now, there was the promise of an update in early 2025. In March of 2025, when Newcastle were having their high level summit at Matfen Hall, the Saudis were there, PIF was there, Yasser Al-Rumaym was there, all the Newcastle Board were there, even Eddie Howe was there. They having it at Matfen Hall. 

I went up there, I walked into Matfen Hall. Matfen Hall. I was right amongst it. I wrote about it at the time with Daily Mail+. Honestly guys, the look on the faces of someone that saw me sat there having a coffee was quite a picture. It was worth it for that alone. Now I wasn’t there to look in through the windows or to steal the plans or anything like that. I just wanted to get a flavor and a feel for what was going on.

Subsequently on the back of that I wrote the exclusive story and I didn’t get it through looking through the windows. By the way the windows incredibly, whether we’re having this high-level summit, were being cleaned, there was window cleaners there. I should have told them the window cleaner could have broken the biggest story, you know, world football if he’d broken the Newcastle stadium news. Couple of weeks on the back of that, having done digging and spoken to as many people as possible, I was aware that all roads were leading towards a new stadium on Leazes Park and that was the story we broke at Daily Mail plus Daily Mail Sport back page of the newspaper as well. 

The capacity then was being floated with 65,000. Now a glossy video had been produced around this, it had been shown to various stakeholders in the couple of weeks after that and around it and it had been shown crucially on that day at Matfen Hall to PIF, to Yasser Al-Ramayan. All roads at that point, while a decision hadn’t been made, led towards a new stadium, 65,000.

Now… I revisited that story during the course of my chats during the summer which have been very good and were designed to enable me to inform you guys which I hope they do. Now no decision, firm decision has been made. It hasn’t. They’re still waiting for the ultimate sign off from the top of PIF as has always been the case on everything, frustratingly so for you guys and for people inside the club at times. 

But what I was told was Newcastle didn’t row back on that story at the time because there was an acceptance that yes, 65,000 was the capacity that was being floated and they had produced this video and if possible and everything aligned, they would move to a new stadium. 

They still are absolutely are committed to one of those two options. The new stadium on Leaze’s Park and around 65, but that is open to, you know, on the back of the cup final, I think some looked at it and thought could we push this a little bit further or redevelop in St James’s Park.

Both options are still at play, even if in March the preferred option was the new stadium. Why then wasn’t there an update in the summer? And again, this is me using the information, thankfully I was exposed to out in the Far East. They’ve got to be sure on this. 

They don’t want to do what Manchester United did. The new Old Trafford, we all saw the glitzy, glossy drawings and plans announced with great confidence and fanfare. Honestly, guys, that stadium will never happen. That will not exist. 

So why put that out there and why commit to that if you haven’t got all your ducks in a row? Building a new stadium is wrapped in red tape. Of course it is, governmental level, you know, at the very top, the local government, the environmental area. So to answer that question, yes, they are still committed to one or the other. They’ve just got to get it right. They’ve just got to take their time. 

During your time covering Newcastle, what has been your favourite transfer story to cover? 

Not even a transfer yet. It’s got to be this one, Alexander Isak. Now you might be screaming back at me saying as Newcastle fans watching, we don’t want this to happen. Why are you enjoying it? Well, this goes back to something, the question that was, wasn’t a question. I wish you’d asked a question. Guy had a pop at me on X last night. said, that’s not helpful, Craig. I’m not here to be helpful. I’m not here to help or to hinder. I’m here to report. I’m here to tell you guys what’s actually going on. 

And I thank you so much for the comments, especially over at YouTube that have been so pure and have thanked me for that reporting. Unbelievably, and I am going to swear here, I’ve managed to p*** off nobody this summer. I spend 52 weeks of the year normally getting under the skin of people who you can’t do right, but doing wrong at times. This summer around Isak, the interaction… be it Liverpool or Newcastle or fans who are watching from afar, it’s been to thank me and that’s because I’ve reported what I’ve known. I’ve been fortunate to be at the heart of it and have a big background of information on why we’ve come to this point. Because of that I’m just telling you what I know, I don’t have a dog in the fight. I don’t. I don’t have an agenda. It doesn’t matter to me either way if Isak stays or goes really, but I want you guys to be informed.

That is why it’s been a brilliant story because I’ve been there at the heart of it and I’m a journalist. I’m not here to help or hinder, I’m here to report and I hope I’ve done that. I’m not here to tell you what you want to hear as Newcastle fans. I know what you want me to hear. You want me to tell you and you want me to tell you this four weeks ago, he’s going nowhere, Liverpool can do one. That wasn’t the case. Newcastle were open to the sale. That’s why I reported that. That’s why I think I’ve been fairly level on this.

I enjoyed it absolutely I’ve enjoyed it. Numbers have been through the roof. Part of me feels I’m gonna get some sleep finally in September. Yeah I might feel quite lonely. Where have you gone guys? Please stay with me. I also talk about football. I think my level of analysis on that. Yeah you might just enjoy it. Don’t just run away when the transfer window slams shut. Stay inside the window. Stay this side of the curtain with me. Loads more to come. It’s a fascinating bonkers brilliant journey being a Newcastle reporter and this summer more than any others rammed at home. 

It’s been wonderful. 

Down the years, what huge Newcastle transfer actually almost happened would have changed the course of the club’s history?

Changed the course of the club’s history? Well, one, this is just off the top of my mind, one that I was absolutely, again, ready to break. And I know that Newcastle United had the press release ready. Now I look a little bit stupid on the back of this because we broke the story at Daily Mail Sport. Dele Alli signs. Dele Alli, £5million deal ready to join Newcastle United from MK Dons. 

Press the button, put it on Twitter, which it was back then, sat back, super pleased with myself. Then breaks two or three hours later, Dele Alli joins Tottenham. Yeah, not a good day. But the story was right, guys. Newcastle had agreed the deal. The player was on his way to Newcastle when Tottenham arrived and everything was reversed ferret.

And he went to North London rather than the Northeast. Newcastle and again you know friends inside they have since confessed this to me. We had the statement ready. We had the release. We were all ready to go to press the button that the deal was done. You beat us to it and then Tottenham beat Dele Alli to everybody. So Dele Alli now as much as his career has gone off track to say the least. That’s potentially a signing that would have altered the course of Newcastle’s short term history. A wonderful player in those first four, five, six years at Tottenham. 

Are you going to do more of these? 

Yeah, I mean, what are we now? 56 minutes in, I need the nod from the producer. I’m going to go over an hour. I honestly don’t mind. I’m happy to go on. I barely think we’ve scratched the surface. Are we going to do more of these? Do you want more of these? If you do want more of these, absolutely I’ll come back. You know, we’ll put a four hour session in. We’ll break in lunch and tea. We can make it all day.

You can come and meet me in the pub afterwards as well. Let’s make this NUFC Q &A live. Okay. I’m being told I’ve got to recap. I’m looking at the producer. Are we out after an hour? We’re done after an hour. Sorry guys. Recap on the Isaac News. Where are we on Alexander Isaac? Alexander Isaac does not want to play for Newcastle again. He announced last night in bombshell fashion.

Okay, I said this wasn’t going to be scripted. It wasn’t scripted at all guys, I hope you appreciate that. But they’ve put some words in front of me, so I’m going to give this a go. 

Thank you for joining this exclusive Mail+ Q &A with me, Craig Hope. Yes, thank you. I know I am. As Chief Football Writer for the Daily Mail, I want to platform where I can and take you behind the curtain and share news, never heard before stories and much, much more on the club we all love, Newcastle United. Thank you for joining and hopefully see you soon. Thank you so much guys, I’ve loved this. Bye bye.