Newcastle zero in on striker Hugo Ekitike despite £86 million release clause
Having missed out on Brazil international Joao Pedro earlier this month, when he preferred a move from Brighton to Chelsea, Newcastle are still hoping to sign another striker in this window.
With Champions League football and three domestic competitions to contend with next season, Newcastle cannot expect Isak to play in every game and need to rotate their forwards.
Manager Eddie Howe has two players on the left in Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes, and having completed the £55m signing of Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest, he also has two players on the right with Jacob Murphy set to compete with the Sweden international.
However, Isak does not have similar competition or cover, with Denmark Under-21 international William Osula the only other senior striker at the club following the departure of Callum Wilson.
In June, Telegraph Sport revealed that Newcastle were still tracking Ekitike, but should they pull off the transfer it will be a major coup given how well he has played in the Bundesliga for Eintracht Frankfurt and for the France Under-21 side.
Given the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea have all been linked with a move for the 23-year-old this summer, there is naturally caution on the Newcastle side, but they are looking into the possibility of doing a deal with the German side.
Telegraph Sport understands Newcastle have made the player's representatives aware of their desire to sign the France Under-21 international and will hope to agree a fee with the Bundesliga club.
Ekitike has a release clause of around €100 million (£86 million) and Newcastle would almost certainly have to pay the full fee to get the transfer over the line.
Newcastle are right to be wary. They have tried to sign Ekitike twice before, first in January 2022 and again in the summer window later that year.
A deal was close to being completed on both occasions until the player decided to join Paris St-Germain. He failed to secure regular first-team football in Paris and signed for Frankfurt in 2024.
Ekitike scored 22 goals with 12 assists in all competitions last season and helped secure Eintracht Champions League football.
Should Newcastle complete the signing of the Frenchman it does not mean Isak will be sold this summer. The Newcastle hierarchy still intend to offer last season's top goalscorer a new contract later this summer and have no interest in selling him in this window, when he still has three years left on his existing deal.
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The menstrual cycle and its effect on performance The menstrual cycle has a clear impact on the body – it can affect emotions, mood and sleep as well as cause fatigue, headache and Calli Hauger-Thackery, a distance runner who has represented Team GB at the Olympics, says talking about its sporting impact is "still so taboo and it shouldn't be, because we're struggling with it".Calli says she always notices the difference in her body in the lead up to her period."I'm feeling really fatigued, heavy legs, I [feel like I'm] almost running through mud sometimes, everything's more strained than it should be," she finds she "lives" by her menstruation tracker, as being on her period is a source of anxiety "especially when I've got big races coming up".One of those big races was in April – the Boston Marathon – and Calli's period was due. She finished in sixth place, and recalls that she "luckily got through" - but says she can't help wondering if she could have done even better. 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Working out whether the menstrual cycle affects sporting ability requires an understanding of the physiological changes that hormones have throughout the body, the challenge of performing while experiencing symptoms, the psychological impact of the anxiety of competing during your period and perceptions about all of the Elliott-Sale says there "isn't a phase where you're stronger or weaker", or where "you're going to win or you're going to lose", but in theory the hormones oestrogen and progesterone could alter parts of the body such as bone, muscle or heart."What we don't yet understand is: Does that have a big enough effect to really impact performance?" she professor adds that it is "a very sensible conclusion" that poor sleep, fatigue and cramping would have a knock-on effect on performance, and that dread and anxiety were an "absolutely tangible thing" for athletes on their period who are performing in front of large has spoken to athletes who "sometimes even triple up with period pants" to avoid the risk of leaking and embarrassment, and "that's a heavy mental burden". 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Injuries can be brutal and take a year to recover only is the risk three to eight times greater in women than men, depending on the sport, but they are becoming more common, says Dr Thomas Dos'Santos, a sports biomechanics researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University. However, there is "no simple answer" to explain the greater risk in women, he it could be down to differences in anatomy. Bigger hips in women mean the top of the thigh bone starts from a wider position and this changes the angle it connects to the lower leg at the knee, potentially increasing risk. The ACL is also slightly smaller in women "so it's a little bit weaker, potentially", Dr Dos'Santos explains. ACL injuries can happen at all stages of the menstrual cycle, but hormonal changes are also being investigated, including a study sponsored by Fifa, the governing body for world football. High levels of oestrogen prior to ovulation could alter the properties of ligaments, making them a bit more stretchy so "there could be an increased risk of injury, theoretically," he Dr Dos'Santos argues it's important to think beyond pure anatomy as women still do not get the same quality of support and strength training as compares it to ballet, where dancers do receive good quality training. "The [difference in] incidence rates is basically trivial between men and women," Dr Dos'Santos is research into whether it is possible to minimise the risk of ACL injuries, by training female athletes to move in subtly different there is a risk of lessening performance, and some techniques that put strain on the ACL – like dropping the shoulder to deceive a defender before bursting off in another direction – are the necessary moves in sports like football."We can't wrap them up in cotton wool and say you should avoid playing sport," Dr Dos'Santos says. "What we need to do is make sure that they're strong enough to tolerate those loads, but it isn't just as simple as some people saying we can 100% eradicate ACL injuries, we can't." No longer 'mini-men' Even though there are still many unanswered question, it is still a world of difference for Katy Daley-McLean at Sale Sharks she got her first cap in 2007, she remembers that all the assumptions around how her body would perform were based on the data from male rugby players."We were literally treated as mini-men," Daley-McLean now, she says, girls and women don't feel like the outsiders in sport, which is not only improving performance at the elite level but helping to keep more women in sport."It's awesome, it's something to be celebrated because if you look at the stats, one of the biggest reasons young girls drop out of sport is body image, it's around periods and not having a correct sports bra, which is so easily sorted."Inside Health was produced by Gerry Holt
