Well, if he was, erm, the best player going he wouldn't be playing for that shite would he?
Isakly what we need
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That doesn’t make sense.
TBF he had a good decent season, then played great, then did an ACL, had a great season, then an even better season doing an invincible domestic double, then a quieter one but still great. This summer he was on the move, and the fact city and bayern were chasing as well kind of proves hes quite decent
Yeah he's obvs great but, the best of the best aren't playing for Bayer Leverkusen when they're 22 are they? Maybe 17 before Barca poach them.
Look, maybe we've got one here, god knows we've paid for it. Fingers crossed he's the real deal. It's a lot of money though. As is Ekitike for the amount he cost.
The least risk is Isak for 120M. At least we know he's mustard in the Prem.
Look, maybe we've got one here, god knows we've paid for it. Fingers crossed he's the real deal. It's a lot of money though. As is Ekitike for the amount he cost.
The least risk is Isak for 120M. At least we know he's mustard in the Prem.
Would love to see another Swede at LFC. The last one was Hysén, I think.
However, I agree with those saying that we shouldn't overpay. Don't think he's worth the rumoured £150 mill fee. Yeah, there's a striker shortage, but I'd rather save £100 mill and take a chance on a young up and coming striker.
However, I agree with those saying that we shouldn't overpay. Don't think he's worth the rumoured £150 mill fee. Yeah, there's a striker shortage, but I'd rather save £100 mill and take a chance on a young up and coming striker.
Well we've just bought Ekitike as our 'young up and coming' and look what he cost!
I do agree that Isak is the least risky, but at the highest cost it probably all evens out in comparison to ekitike and wirtz.
The only guaranteed success story is Kerkez. Everyone else has doubts over cost/fitness/adaptability to some degree. Kerkez is the only 100% banker for me
I read something yesterday about Ekitike being a 'project'. I don't buy that rhetoric. The money he cost doesn't allow that thinking. If he's not instantly the the 2nd or 3rd best striker in the Prem, then he's a failure. And no different from Nunez. Or that Utd striker. You can't pay that money and hand-hold some duck egg for 2 years. He's either good or he's not.
By season end he needs to be comfortable in the league. Ideally from game 1, but it's a step up from BL to the PL. I'm hopeful though
Hopefully it's not an issue and he's great.
So just a quick comment on Newcastle and FFP (by which I mean UEFA rules, not PL).
Firstly, they have had some equity injections in recent years, which means the profit target they need to hit is the enhanced one - adjusted 3-year losses of less than €60m. If they sell Isak to us, they will hit that easily. If they don't, they may struggle. I reckon they've been close to the PL limits recently, and they were involved in those round-robin deals with Forest, Villa etc. which in their case meant selling Elliot Anderson for what looked like a hugely inflated fee (although he turned out to be decent for Forest). The sale of Minteh to Brighton looked more above board and it felt at the time like they really didn't want to sell him. But I think they may have needed to do that to hit UEFA targets when they were in the CL in 2024/24, and not to hit PL targets.
Where they are more likely to have an issue next season, which a lot of Geordie bloggers are discussing on line, is on the squad costs ratio (broadly wages and amortisation divided by turnover plus 3-year average transfer profit).
And you need to remember that the profit on sale of players included in the calculation is a 3-year average. So they potentially need to make a huge profit on Isak in order to get near the 70% target, as only 1/3 of it will count this year. If they don't, they'd be looking at a big, non-negotiable penalty to UEFA.
Although I doubt that penalty would be higher than the premium Al Hilal would be paying for Darwin, so it all looks a bit odd, and possibly not thought-through to me.
Firstly, they have had some equity injections in recent years, which means the profit target they need to hit is the enhanced one - adjusted 3-year losses of less than €60m. If they sell Isak to us, they will hit that easily. If they don't, they may struggle. I reckon they've been close to the PL limits recently, and they were involved in those round-robin deals with Forest, Villa etc. which in their case meant selling Elliot Anderson for what looked like a hugely inflated fee (although he turned out to be decent for Forest). The sale of Minteh to Brighton looked more above board and it felt at the time like they really didn't want to sell him. But I think they may have needed to do that to hit UEFA targets when they were in the CL in 2024/24, and not to hit PL targets.
Where they are more likely to have an issue next season, which a lot of Geordie bloggers are discussing on line, is on the squad costs ratio (broadly wages and amortisation divided by turnover plus 3-year average transfer profit).
And you need to remember that the profit on sale of players included in the calculation is a 3-year average. So they potentially need to make a huge profit on Isak in order to get near the 70% target, as only 1/3 of it will count this year. If they don't, they'd be looking at a big, non-negotiable penalty to UEFA.
Although I doubt that penalty would be higher than the premium Al Hilal would be paying for Darwin, so it all looks a bit odd, and possibly not thought-through to me.
It’s all sooooo reminiscent of the Dean Saunders signing.
A younger one in the 19-21 year old bracket.
South American maybe?
The failure rate is too high. Wasting money but more importantly time. As a club we shouldn't we taking those gambles any more. I think we are doing the right thing - going for a proven top striker at the right age and a highly rated younger striker with great potential.
Ekitike wasn't my first choice but then I didn't think we'd be after two strikers!
One can also say there is buyer shortage for Isak at the moment. Its not entirely his fault that the bridges are broken with Newcastle and most likely there is no way back. But realistically Liverpool is the only taker out there for him. It looks like the Spanish teams cant afford him and Al Hilal are RPT barred. Bayern has Diaz and Kane and rest of PL teams would violate the PSR rule.
I said it a while back that i think it'll be 110 + 20m addons, or 120 + 10m addons. i think they want to save face and 130 i can see being the number
‘Addons’ are becoming the blue pill for clubs wanting to show they ‘held out and got a good fee’.
Originally they were a way to counter suggestions of player fragility (fees paid per number of games playedj), they are now being agreed on the basis of the player being the next messiah
Originally they were a way to counter suggestions of player fragility (fees paid per number of games playedj), they are now being agreed on the basis of the player being the next messiah
I have a bad feeling about this deal.
Tbh over 50m I get the jitters. How many have worked out for us? Ali and virg?
Yes - but Naby’s stats were “off the chart” good prior to us signing him and I don’t think he had a significant injury record as well.
Slobbers too. Maybe less convincingly, but he played a massive part in winning the league, and made our transition to an entirely new midfield seamless
I don’t know whether that’s reflective of us being really good at finding excellent players in the sub £50m range or being a bit reluctant to spend much on individual players.
We’ve only really paid £50m or more on 5 occasions - Virgil, Ali, Darwin, Naby & Dom - so 2 wins, 2 flops and 1 maybe.
That’s not much compared to the likes of City, Utd & Chelsea and a better result than Arsenal’s big signings.
Can I interest you in a 17 year old Will Wright?
He moved to Leverkusen at the age of 16 and made his debut at 17. The ACL injury probably set him back a year but he just turned 22 (May).
I don't agree that the best of the best have to move early to top clubs. Several of the top youth talents that move early see their careers stall if they make the wrong move. He played for a top club in Germany that is known for developing talent. Was managed by Xabi for 2,5 years and won the league, German cup and Super cup while also playing in the CL and a regular for Germany.
There was no need for him to move until now. The good thing is that he's more ready to succeed at the age he's in.
He'll be a star for us.
Absolutely agree - the best move for a young player is to go to a good team but not necessarily top team where the pressure is on results every week, get significant playing time and make that big move to a top tier team 22-24.
We can all agree the player is very good, but also not anywhere near being a phenomenon. I've no clue how all in we are financially if we do this. What I don't get is how we are so heavily invested in seemingly different ends.
Remember when Salah actually played out wide and Nunez was the first one forward for a chunk of time? Even if the new guy can finish chances, I don't see Salah being able to do that now, or being willing to try, and I don't get how we use frimpong in that set up either. So maybe we don't, and we play with Isak withdrawn sometimes with a flexible front three. Isn't that where wirtz wants to be? Isnt half of that job to shit yourself if we lose the ball because we are outnumbered down our right?
In other words it's not that it's all in on Isak, it's that to play him and all the other players we are most heavily invested in a change in formation and a significant risk. We are just hoping it all comes together all at once.
The risk is both the player and the whole formation with the other players.
Remember when Salah actually played out wide and Nunez was the first one forward for a chunk of time? Even if the new guy can finish chances, I don't see Salah being able to do that now, or being willing to try, and I don't get how we use frimpong in that set up either. So maybe we don't, and we play with Isak withdrawn sometimes with a flexible front three. Isn't that where wirtz wants to be? Isnt half of that job to shit yourself if we lose the ball because we are outnumbered down our right?
In other words it's not that it's all in on Isak, it's that to play him and all the other players we are most heavily invested in a change in formation and a significant risk. We are just hoping it all comes together all at once.
The risk is both the player and the whole formation with the other players.
