Latest news with #Tyneside
Metro
6 hours ago
- Sport
- Metro
Isak odds: Where will the Newcastle striker be next season?
Leaving goals in Newcastle when your star striker is needed to gain sharpness by playing in a pre-season friendly at Celtic was a baffling decision by Magpies manager Eddie Howe. It is understandable he didn't want Alexander Isak to be the centre of post-match speculation if he had played in the defeat to the Scottish champions at Parkhead but the move has raised red flags in a city which bleeds black and white as it has renewed speculation he could be sold. Liverpool have been linked, Saudi Arabia has been mentioned and Arsenal are lurking in the shadows as they are still trying to sign the striker needed to transform them from perennial Premier League runners-up into a side capable of winning the title for the first time in more than two decades. And who would really be shocked if Chelsea conjured up the finances to secure the Sweden international's services over a lengthy period ranging from between six to eight years? Bayern Munich could also be interested along with Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain as the Tyneside terror is one of the best finishers on the planet, having scored 54 Premier League goals in three years at the St James' Park club. Despite agreeing to sign Eintracht Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike for £69million, the Reds are in need of more firepower if they are to retain the title following the tragic passing of Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz's desire to move on and Arne Slot's willingness to allow Darwin Nunez to join another club. The trouble for all potential purchasers is Newcastle need back up for Isak rather than scurrying around trying to find a replacement. They have failed in attempts to sign Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, who have both joined Manchester United and missed out on Joao Pedro and Liam Delap, who have swelled Chelsea's ranks. Missing those targets mean Newcastle are highly unlikely to allow the jewel in their crown to depart, which would leave them desperately short of goals ahead of a new season which sees them back in the Champions League. Newcastle have insisted Isak is not for sale and even if they were forced to let him go because his head has been turned they would regard £150m as the bare minimum for an elite scorer who supplied 23 goals and six assists in the top-flight last term, while also bagging the decisive strike in the 2-1 Carabao Cup final success over Liverpool at Wembley. If Isak were to leave then the 4/1 with BetMGM and Unibet he heads to Anfield is a decent price but big-hitters should smash into the 1/3 with bet365 that he's still a Newcastle player when the transfer window closes. The Magpies simply cannot allow a rival club to steal him from their grasp. Johnny Rotten appears at the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool next month but the Sex Pistols singer will struggle to match the same filth and fury seen in the explosive ruckus between Gerwyn Price and Daryl Gurney in their heated World Matchplay encounter in the Winter Gardens on Monday. The darts duo are not the best of friends – security had to separate them after a Premier League match in Sheffield six years ago – and were involved in a heated exchange after Price's 10-7 first-round triumph when 'Super Chin' appeared to mock the Iceman's energetic victory celebrations, having earlier mouthed an apparent obscenity as he headed for a break in play. More Trending Price faces Chris Dobey in the second round and is 10/11 with William Hill, bet365, Betway Betfred and BoyleSports to win by over 2.5 legs while new kid on the block Josh Rock can take the scalp of three-time World Matchplay champion Michael van Gerwen at 8/13 with Hills. The eagerly awaited rematch between Jan Brueghel and Calandagan takes place at Ascot on Saturday in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the former horse, trained by Aidan O'Brien, can repeat his half-length victory when winning the Coronation Cup at Epsom at the start of June at 2/1 with William Hill. MORE: I'm a beauty writer and this is how you get £145 worth of K-Beauty for just £45 MORE: Alejandro Garnacho sends message to Chelsea as Manchester United slash asking price MORE: Mikel Arteta fears EIGHT clubs are in Premier League title race next season
The Independent
a day ago
- Sport
- The Independent
No one can afford to buy Alexander Isak, says ex-Newcastle player John Anderson
Alexander Isak will remain a Newcastle player next season because nobody can afford to buy him. That is the view of former Magpies defender John Anderson amid frenzied speculation over the Sweden international's future on Tyneside following his absence from the club's first pre-season friendly at Celtic on Saturday. The 25-year-old striker hit the headlines once again last week when Premier League champions Liverpool indicated they would be prepared to offer £120million – around £30m shy of Newcastle's hands-off valuation – for him should he become available. However, Anderson told the PA news agency: 'Once you've got good players and you've got very, very good players, they're always going to be linked with other teams. That's always been the nature of the game and that's never, ever going to go away. 'I just don't think anybody at this moment in time can afford Isak and that's the truth of it. 'There's a lot of speculation about whether he's going to sign a new contract and have the club offered him a new contract – I don't think the boy is in any hurry to sign a new contract because he's got three years left on his present deal. 'Why would he be?' Head coach Eddie Howe revealed after the 4-0 defeat at Celtic Park that Isak had been sent home from Glasgow after a pre-season training camp in Austria because he was never going to play any part in the game as he manages his return from a groin injury. Howe did not want him sitting in the stands as the rumours gathered pace, despite his club's insistence that he is simply not for sale. Anderson said: 'It's a high-profile game, the champions of Scotland against a side that's qualified for the Champions League, but I think all the speculation would have been about Isak sitting in the stand rather than being focused on the game.' The former Republic of Ireland defender, who now covers the Magpies' games as a co-commentator for BBC Radio Newcastle, has witnessed Isak's meteoric rise since his £63m arrival from Real Sociedad during the summer of 2022 and knows how vital his retention is. He said: 'Oh God, he's huge. It's okay getting whatever you get for him, but how do you replace a player like that? That's the bottom line. 'You've got all the money in the world, yes, but can you get a player in who can do what he does?' Anderson played alongside Kevin Keegan and Peter Beardsley at St James' Park and watched Alan Shearer scored a record 206 goals for the club and he believes Isak is a special talent. He said: 'Shearer was a great out-and-out goalscorer, but this boy has got everything. Not only does he score goals, but he creates goals, he makes space for other people, he frightens the life out of defenders with his movement. 'And at the age that he's at, he's still got his prime years ahead of him. He's only going to get better.'
Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Times
Kieran Tierney makes hero's return to Celtic
We have all sat through our fair share of limp pre-season friendlies played at walking pace in an atmosphere akin to a Sunday School picnic. This one, however, was pleasingly full-blooded and with a vast travelling support from Tyneside, we had noise, colour and mutual rage-baiting throughout. Celtic were comfortable victors but for a time Newcastle brought something to the table on the pitch as well as off it. There was, though, a clunkiness to the visitors in the final third and a vulnerability at the back which the Scottish champions ruthlessly exploited. Three sides of the stadium rose as one 15 minutes from the end when the returning hero Kieran Tierney measured a signature pinpoint cross onto the head of his fellow substitute Liam Scales for the fourth goal of a game which had long since ceased to be a contest. There was a trophy at stake here — of course there was — so Tierney's second stint at his boyhood heroes already features silverware. The initial intrigue centred on the make-up of both frontlines, Johnny Kenny given the chance to play through the middle for the hosts amid a swirl of speculation that the Irishman will be the odd man out in their continued attempts to strengthen up top. For Newcastle, meanwhile, Alexander Isak sat this one out in the wake of repeated links to Liverpool, the official explanation being that he and the similarly absent Joelinton were having their 'minutes managed' prior to the next leg of pre-season in Singapore and South Korea. Although well short of capacity in the home sections, Celtic Park crackled with an energy often missing from run-of-the-mill domestic occasions. That 10,000-strong block of black and white in the Lisbon Lions stand and southeast corner made their presence felt from the off and left little doubt as to the excellent pre-match that they — and Glasgow's publicans — had enjoyed. Newcastle found some early joy through Harvey Barnes down the left, the winger standing up a number of teasing deliveries for William Osula to attack while Jacob Murphy steamed in at the far post trying to pin Hayato Inamura, Celtic's new left back. Fabian Schär went close with a volley then even closer at the other end, when he looked to have diverted a Hyun-Jun Yang cross beyond Nick Pope only for the goalkeeper to pull off a smart low save. Kasper Schmeichel was then equally alert when an Osula shot took a nick off Dane Murray and looped towards his top corner, the Dane springing up to turn the ball over the bar. It was only eight weeks ago that Celtic suffered that penalty shootout agony against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final. Here the spotkick tables turned for them and their supporters as Arne Engels stroked them in front from 12 yards after Joe Willock tripped the Belgian as he went to connect with a Daizen Maeda cutback. Engels' conversion was emphatic, low to Pope's left as the goalkeeper dived right. Newcastle continued to see plenty of the ball and had several chances to draw level just before the break. The ever-busy Barnes saw Anthony Ralston bravely block his thrashed attempt with his midsection, Schär lodged another volleyed effort that this time lacked the necessary thrust, then Osula raced clear, rounded Schmeichel but had to watch as the imperious Auston Trusty cleared his shot off the line. The half would indeed deliver a further goal, but after all this United pressure, it was Celtic who doubled their lead. Kenny — fresh from miscuing an attempt to stab home a low Yang centre — set off in pursuit of a blootered Schmeichel clearance, with Pope electing to race out of his box in an attempt to head the ball to safety. The former Burnley veteran looked on in horror as the bounce instead took it clean over his scalp and Kenny knocked into the empty net. The Pope appreciation society roared their approval from behind the goal. Howe summoned some costly cavalry for the second period, two £55million men, Anthony Elanga and Sandro Tonali, joining the £40million Anthony Gordon as part of some nine changes. Osula and Lewis Miley were the only starters to reappear. Tierney emerged after 56 minutes for his first appearance here since April 2019. By this point, the hosts were three goals to the good, Yang having converted a Maeda cutback to ice an industrious individual display. The South Korean can flatter to deceive — and lost ground with supporters for a shambolic Hampden cameo back in May — but there are raw materials for Rodgers to work with. The Celtic manager made a further ten changes just after the hour mark, and if the game naturally felt more disjointed in the closing 30 minutes, it still rattled along at a commendable lick. Benjamin Nygren, the new home attacker, bent a free-kick well over after Dan Burn was booked for bringing down Adam Idah, before Martin Dubravka turned a Reo Hatate snapshot behind for a corner. The Slovakian could do nothing about that Tierney/Scales combination which perhaps more than anything else will have whetted home appetites for the season ahead. Star man Auston Trusty (Celtic) Celtic (4-3-3) K Schmeichel (V Sinisalo 62min) — A Ralston (B McPherson 62min), D Murray (C Donovan 62min), A Trusty (L Scales 62min), H Inamura (K Tierney 56min) — L McCowan (B Nygren 62min), C McGregor (Capt) (R Hatate 62min), A Engels (P Bernardo 62min) — HJ Yang (M Tilio 62min), J Kenny (A Idah 62min), D Maeda (J Forrest 62min). Booked Murray (34min). Newcastle United (4-3-3) N Pope (M Dubravka 46min) — K Trippier (E Krafth 46min), F Schär (J Lascelles 46min), S Botman (D Burn 46min), M Targett (A Murphy 46min) — L Miley (S Neave 76min), B Guimaraes (Capt) (S Tonali 46min), J Willock (J White 46min) — J Murphy (A Elanga 46min), W Osula (T Hernes 76min), H Barnes (A Gordon 46min). Booked Burn (68min) Referee N Walsh. Attendance 45,739
New York Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Sean Longstaff to Leeds: Everything you need to know
Leeds United have signed Sean Longstaff from Newcastle United for an upfront fee of £12million, plus a further £3m in potential add-ons. The 27-year-old midfielder has signed a four-year contract. As part of this summer's transfer coverage at The Athletic, in addition to breaking news, tactical analysis and in-depth reads, our Transfers TLDR series (you can read them all here) will bring you a quick guide to each of the key deals. Until now, Longstaff has been a one-club man. In fact, he has spent much of his life immersed in Newcastle United, having been born on Tyneside (in North Shields) and raised as a Newcastle supporter alongside brother Matty, who also learnt his trade in the club's academy before leaving for fresh challenges. Advertisement Longstaff grew up in a sporting family, with a father who played ice hockey for Great Britain. He spent time on loan at Kilmarnock and Blackpool in his younger days but for the past seven seasons has been a member of the Newcastle squad in the Premier League. Steve Madeley A dedicated, committed, athletic player who is a manager's dream with his willingness and ability to follow precise instructions. Longstaff is able to operate as either a box-to-box midfielder or in a deep-lying holding role, and Leeds fans might even see him playing another sport — in the summer, between football seasons, he has been a fast bowler for Tynemouth Cricket Club. They should not expect him to hold back when talking to the media. He has spoken out previously about being a local player at his hometown club and the unfair level of pressure he believes comes with that. Steve Madeley Longstaff's best quality is adapting to different setups and in-game situations. He featured for just 786 Premier League minutes last season, despite being in the squad for all 38 games, but his touchmap from 2023-24 shows the extent of his activity across the pitch. Eddie Howe used him as an attacking No 8, a regular central midfielder, a lone No 6 and as part of a double pivot during that campaign. Longstaff performed well in all four roles, protecting the defence and giving Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes the freedom to play further up the pitch. He still scored six league goals that season, thanks to his tireless ball-carrying, instinctive box-crashing and sweeping finishes, which could prove invaluable for Leeds as they try to re-establish themselves as a Premier League club. He is ambitious in possession and from set pieces, resulting in a combined pass completion rate of just 82.2 per cent across the past two seasons. Anantaajith Raghuraman Longstaff has had a series of different issues over the past six years, from a dead leg to ankle, knee and hamstring problems, but none of them have kept him out for a prolonged period. A knee injury in March 2019 that kept him out for the season's final nine games is his longest single absence. Steve Madeley 'I'm so proud of everything Sean has achieved,' his younger brother Matty, now in MLS with Canada's Toronto FC, told The Athletic in October 2024. 'He gets stick from certain fans at times, which he doesn't deserve, and he's made a scapegoat. But look at the games he's played, the goals he's scored in big games, and how mentally strong he is. Advertisement 'I've always looked up to him and even more so now. I don't think people understand the pressures of being the homegrown kid.' Steve Madeley Leeds have spent £12million on bringing Longstaff two hours' drive south from Tyneside to Yorkshire, ending a relationship with Newcastle that started when he was just nine years old. The fee could rise by a further £3million if various add-ons, including Leeds avoiding relegation back to the Championship this season, are achieved. Longstaff has signed a four-year contract at Elland Road. Chris Weatherspoon Assuming agent fees of 10 per cent and a four per cent transfer levy, signing Longstaff will add £3.3million in amortisation costs onto Leeds' 2025-26 books, then a further £3.5m per season to the end of 2029-30. Longstaff's wage at Elland Road are currently unknown, but will ensure the cost of buying him goes beyond the estimated £13.7m in acquisition fees. For Newcastle, Longstaff's book value was pretty much nil. He joined their academy at a very young age, so the only costs held on the club's balance sheet in relation to him are any fees incurred when renewing contracts. And as his existing deal had less than 12 months to run, any such remaining balance was nominal. To that end, Newcastle will book the full £12million fee as profit in their 2025-26 financials. Chris Weatherspoon
New York Times
4 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Inside Newcastle live Q&A: Chris Waugh answers your questions
After another whirlwind week at Newcastle United. Alexander Isak's future remains headline news and Hugo Ekitike appears Liverpool-bound — representing further transfer frustration at St James' Park. Anthony Elanga was an exciting first signing of the summer from Nottingham Forest, but Bryan Mbeumo, Liam Delap, Joao Pedro, Dean Huijsen and now Ekitike have headed (or are heading) elsewhere. Newcastle's ambitious transfer strategy has brought with it much disappointment in terms of targets ending up at other clubs and, when their lack of a senior executive team is taken into account, it feels like it has been another summer of flux on Tyneside. Paul Mitchell departed as sporting director on June 30 and Darren Eales, the CEO, has been working his notice period having announced a blood-cancer diagnosis last year. So just what is going on? Is another transfer breakthrough close? Where will Newcastle turn after Ekitike? And is the appointment of a new chief executive and/or sporting director imminent? Post your questions below and our Newcastle writer Chris Waugh will endeavour to answer as many as possible between 1pm and 2pm BST (8am and 9am ET). Chris Waugh July 18, 2025 6:30 am EDT
