Newcastle United chief executive says club would be ‘crazy’ to sell Alexander Isak
Newcastle would be “crazy” to consider selling star players like Alexander Isak this summer after their latest accounts showed a big drop in losses, chief executive Darren Eales has said.
The Magpies had lost in excess of £70million in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 accounting periods after heavy investment in players like Isak, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes.
They sold the likes of Allan Saint-Maximin, Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh in 2023-24 to ensure compliance with the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR), which limit losses to a maximum of £105million over a three-year period.
Those departures – allied to a 28 per cent growth in revenue bolstered by participation in last season’s Champions League – led to the club announcing losses of £11.1m on Tuesday for the year ending June 30, 2024.
Isak’s performances this season in the Premier League have placed him firmly in the world-class bracket and in the sights of Europe’s top clubs.
But Eales insists Newcastle – who have arguably world football’s wealthiest owners in the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) – see themselves as one of those clubs, and must therefore have the players to match that ambition as they seek to grow within the constraints of the rules.
“We’ve got that wish and desire to keep our key players, they’re all under long-term contracts,” Eales said.
“So from that perspective we have no intention at all of those (top) players being moved on, and we’re not under the gun (because of PSR) or anything like that. “We’ve got an ownership that is ambitious, that wants the best for the club. So from that perspective, it’d be crazy for us to consider it.”
Asked whether the club would be able to reward Isak with an improved contract in the summer, Eales replied: “He has multi years left so as with all of these things, we will have the discussions in terms of a new deal just like we did with Joelinton, Bruno (Guimaraes) or Anthony Gordon. That’s something that we will approach in the summer.”
Eales was asked what he thought about the speculation linking Isak with so-called bigger clubs. “When we think about the growth of Newcastle, we have that ambition to be a top club,” he said. “There is a sense of annoyance (over the Isak speculation) because we’re almost seen as that next category down.
“We’re striving as a club to be at the top table. We want our best players here. And to be honest (the speculation) shows the value that people think of Isak, that they talk about him all the time.”
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