## Newcastle United's Challenging Summer Transfer Window: A Summary This report from **The New York Times**, authored by **Stuart James**, details the difficulties faced by **Newcastle United** during the recent summer transfer window, as of **August 14, 2025**. The article explores the club's struggles to secure key transfer targets, the reasons behind these failures, and the broader implications for the club's strategy and leadership. ### Key Findings and Conclusions: * **Widespread Rejections:** Newcastle United has experienced a significant number of rejections from their transfer targets, described as "like trying to nail jelly to a wall." This includes key players like Benjamin Sesko (who signed for Manchester United), Hugo Ekitike, James Trafford, and Joao Pedro, for whom Newcastle made bids. They also failed to sign Dean Huijsen, Bryan Mbeumo, and Liam Delap. * **Player Retention Concerns:** The club's talisman, Alexander Isak, is reportedly attempting to force a move to Liverpool, adding to the club's transfer window woes. * **"Shopping in the Wrong Supermarket":** A common sentiment within the football industry is that Newcastle's transfer strategy was flawed, with the club pursuing players who were also targets for elite clubs like Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Manchester United. This approach is deemed "unrealistic" by senior figures in the game. * **Leadership Vacuum:** The absence of a permanent chief executive and sporting director has created a "leadership void" at St James' Park. Eddie Howe's nephew, Andy Howe, the assistant head of recruitment, has been tasked with overseeing incoming transfers, a responsibility considered "beyond his pay grade." * **Naivety and Wasted Effort:** There is frustration within the club over the time and energy wasted pursuing players who had no intention of joining, with some insiders describing Newcastle as "naive." * **Eddie Howe's Central Role:** The lack of a sporting director has made head coach Eddie Howe more central to the recruitment process, meaning he will be judged more heavily on signings. Howe is praised for his ability to "keep it all together despite it all" amidst the challenges. * **Competition with Elite Clubs:** This summer marked Newcastle's first attempt to compete directly with established powerhouses for players. The failures highlight that the club is not yet operating at the same level in the transfer market, despite their on-pitch performance. Factors contributing to this include the gravitas of other clubs, wage ceilings influenced by Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), club location, and brand building through social media (e.g., Newcastle's 3.2 million Instagram followers compared to Manchester United's 64.5 million). * **Misjudging Player Intent:** Newcastle reportedly misjudged the situation with Hugo Ekitike, believing his arrival would pave the way for Isak's move to Liverpool, when their intention was for the two to play together. The club is "upset" about Liverpool signing Ekitike. * **Isak's Future Uncertain:** Newcastle is preparing for Isak to stay, demanding a fee close to £150 million and a Champions League-quality replacement. However, they also believe Howe can persuade the striker to remain. There's a possibility Isak could be reintegrated into the squad due to the club chairman's potential refusal to back down. * **Lessons Learned:** Newcastle acknowledges not acting quickly enough at the end of the season and having an unrefined transfer strategy. The pressure on the makeshift recruitment team due to the leadership vacuum is a significant factor. ### Key Statistics and Metrics: * **Alexander Isak's Performance:** Isak scored **23 Premier League goals** last season. * **Anthony Elanga Transfer Fee:** Newcastle paid **£55 million ($75 million)** for winger Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest. * **Social Media Following:** * Newcastle United: **3.2 million** Instagram followers * Manchester United: **64.5 million** Instagram followers * Chelsea: **43.6 million** Instagram followers * Liverpool: **48.3 million** Instagram followers * Manchester City: **56.2 million** Instagram followers * **Recent Signings:** Newcastle is reportedly close to a deal for **Jacob Ramsey** from Aston Villa and has completed the **£35 million** move for **Malick Thiaw** from Milan. With **Anthony Elanga** and **Aaron Ramsdale** already signed, this brings their first-team ready signings to four, exceeding the combined total of the previous three windows. ### Important Recommendations: * The article implicitly suggests the urgent need for a **sporting director** to lead the recruitment process effectively. **Ross Wilson**, Nottingham Forest's chief football officer, is expected to be appointed to this role. ### Significant Trends or Changes: * Newcastle is attempting to elevate its status by competing for higher-caliber players, a shift from their previous transfer market operations. * The club is facing the reality of not yet possessing the same "gravitas and pulling power" as established elite clubs. ### Notable Risks or Concerns: * **"Shopping in the wrong supermarket"**: Pursuing unrealistic targets could lead to wasted resources and a failure to strengthen the squad adequately. * **Player dissatisfaction:** Alexander Isak's desire to leave poses a significant risk to the team's attacking strength. * **Pressure on Eddie Howe:** The increased responsibility on Howe for recruitment could impact his coaching duties and overall performance. * **Slow decision-making:** The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund's (PIF) "painstakingly slow" decision-making process is a significant impediment. ### Material Financial Data: * The reported transfer fee for **Anthony Elanga** is **£55 million ($75 million)**. * The reported transfer fee for **Malick Thiaw** is **£35 million**. * Newcastle's potential asking price for **Alexander Isak** is reported to be close to **£150 million**. In conclusion, Newcastle United's summer transfer window has been characterized by a series of high-profile rejections and internal challenges, stemming from an ambitious but perhaps flawed recruitment strategy and a leadership vacuum. While recent signings offer some positive momentum, the club's ability to secure top talent and retain its star players remains a critical concern moving forward. The appointment of a new sporting director is seen as a crucial step to rectify these issues.
What football thinks of Newcastle’s summer: ‘Shopping in the wrong market’, naivety or a lot of bad luck?
Read original at The New York Times →Landing transfer targets at Newcastle United this summer has been a bit like trying to nail jelly to a wall.Last week, Benjamin Sesko became the latest player to turn them down, signing for Manchester United instead and joining a list that includes Hugo Ekitike, James Trafford and Joao Pedro. Newcastle made bids for all four players this summer and ended up missing out on each of them.
They also tried and failed to sign Dean Huijsen, Bryan Mbeumo and Liam Delap.On top of that, Alexander Isak, the club’s talisman and biggest asset, is attempting to force through a move to Liverpool.It has been that sort of transfer window at St James’ Park, where ‘thanks but no thanks’ has been the message for much of the summer, even with the promise of Champions League football.
All the while, the rest of the football industry has been rubbernecking in Newcastle’s direction, empathising in some instances — Isak is not the first footballer to try to engineer an exit in this way — and sympathising in others, particularly for one member of the recruitment staff who, it is felt, has been given a hospital pass.
But there are also questions about how a club at this level could misjudge things so badly that they ended up, to borrow one phrase, “shopping in the wrong supermarket”.Alexander Isak scored 23 Premier League goals last season (Stu Forster/Getty Images)Framed and filtered by a combination of their return to Europe’s premier competition this season and the specific requirements of head coach Eddie Howe, who attaches huge importance to Premier League experience, Newcastle drew up an ambitious list of transfer targets this summer.
Outside of Newcastle, senior figures in the game have used the word “unrealistic” rather than ambitious to describe the pursuit of players who were wanted by Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Manchester United. In other words, the club’s transfer strategy was flawed.“Managers don’t know the business.
But a strong and successful sporting director will know the players they can chase,” says an experienced former sporting director who has worked at the highest level and, like others in this article, spoke anonymously to protect relationships.“Newcastle aimed for the stars and they’ve lost their identity a little bit.
And now they’ve got to be careful that they don’t end up signing the wrong players.”A power vacuum at St James’ Park has not helped. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), Newcastle’s majority owner, has taken an age to appoint a successor to the outgoing chief executive Darren Eales, while Paul Mitchell’s decision to step down as sporting director at the end of the season means there is nobody in that role either, let alone someone who could be described as “strong and successful”.
In the absence of Mitchell, Andy Howe, Eddie’s nephew and the club’s assistant head of recruitment, was given the job of overseeing incoming transfer business — cue that line above about people in football feeling sympathy for a man who is popular and well-respected for his eye for talent but, through no fault of his own, finds himself with a level of responsibility that is beyond his pay grade.
As for the idea that Newcastle set their sights too high this window, there is a mixture of frustration and annoyance within the club that they have wasted so much time and energy pursuing players who, in several instances, never had any intention of joining.Joao Pedro is a case in point — Newcastle were warned the Brazilian would not end up on Tyneside — and Sesko ticks that box as well.
Ekitike arguably, too.“Some you win, some you lose. But when you lose, you’ve got to move on quickly,” the sporting director quoted earlier adds. “Newcastle have been naive.”Staff inside Newcastle predicted Sesko would end up at Old Trafford, even before Manchester United’s interest in the striker became public knowledge.
At that stage, there was no expectation that Sesko would become an active target for Newcastle, even though they held long-term admiration. The feeling was that they had no chance and would be blown out of the water on all elements of any deal.Ultimately, that did not stop Newcastle from trying to sign Sesko — and perhaps they had to roll the dice once Isak’s future was thrown into doubt.
There was nothing half-hearted about their approach, even if they always suspected they were fighting a losing battle.Within the club, though, there was some unease that Newcastle were almost trying too hard to persuade and convince players to join. What happened to recruiting people who want to sign for Newcastle as much as Newcastle want to sign them?
Bruno Guimaraes, who signed from Lyon in 2022, for example.GO DEEPERHow Newcastle United play: Tonali's vital role, picking when to press, and the sweepiest of ’keepersTo illustrate that point, sources at the club speak positively about the attitude and personality of Anthony Elanga, one of the few signings Newcastle have managed to get over the line this summer, having paid Nottingham Forest £55million ($75m) for the winger.
The signing of Anthony Elanga adds a new dimension to Newcastle’s forward line for the coming season (George Wood/Getty Images)Elanga returned from a training session on the back of the pre-season tour in the Far East and was full of positivity about his new surroundings. Setting aside any jet lag, he introduced himself to everyone and shook hands with those he had not met — a reminder that a player sincerely wanting to be at a club ought to be a major factor in recruitment decisions.
In many ways, the absence of a sporting director has made Eddie Howe more central to the process, and a by-product of that is that the head coach will be judged on signings more than he would be if Mitchell, whose job was “90 per cent recruitment” according to Eales, was still in post.One Premier League executive says that he is hugely impressed with the way Howe is navigating what he describes as a “leadership void” amid a backdrop of negative rumours.
“The one person who comes out of it with serious credit is Howe, because he has managed to keep it all together despite it all,” he says.Nobody is pretending that any of this is straightforward, bearing in mind Howe wanted to strengthen a team and a squad that outperformed all but four Premier League clubs last season and won silverware too.
The recruitment bar was set high in that respect and the pool of players was small.Equally, the argument about Newcastle “shopping in the wrong supermarket” is more complex, or nuanced, than it might first appear.This summer is the first time Newcastle have tried to compete across the board with Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City for players.
What has happened over the past six weeks serves as a brutal reminder that the club is not operating at that level in the transfer market, even if they feel as though they can go toe-to-toe with those teams on the pitch.There are all sorts of factors that feed into that, including the gravitas and pulling power of those other clubs because of their track record over an extended period of time (Manchester United are not defined by finishing 15th last season), the wage ceiling at Newcastle which is partly influenced by profit and sustainability rules (PSR), something as old-fashioned as the importance of a club’s location, and something as new as building a brand through social media.
To pick up on that latter point, Newcastle have 3.2 million Instagram followers. Manchester United have 64.5m, Chelsea 43.6m, Liverpool 48.3m, and Manchester City 56.2m. Commercial spin-offs matter because, quite simply, money talks.Leaving all of that aside, this has been a curious summer transfer window in the Premier League and Newcastle could be forgiven for thinking that they have found themselves in the middle of a perfect storm.
Domestically, they were targeting players from Bournemouth, Burnley, Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion and Ipswich Town. In theory, those clubs should be fertile ground for a team in the Champions League.The problem for Newcastle, though, is that the Premier League’s powerhouses were pushing their trolley down the same aisle.
Arsenal (signing Christian Norgaard from Brentford), Chelsea (Joao Pedro from Brighton and Delap from Ipswich), Liverpool (Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth), Manchester City (Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Trafford from Burnley), and Manchester United (Mbeumo from Brentford and Matheus Cunha from Wolves) were clearing the shelves of the best talent at that level, as well as bringing in some A-list names along the way.
One of those top-level players is Ekitike, a striker Newcastle had tried and failed to sign twice in the past. There was cautious optimism at Newcastle that they would finally get their man this time. Ekitike told Newcastle that he wanted to join (for the record, so did others who ended up elsewhere this summer; you will not believe this, but players don’t always tell the truth).
When Newcastle made their move for Ekitike, the natural conclusion to draw was that the Frenchman’s arrival from Eintracht Frankfurt would pave the way for Isak to move to Liverpool. Although that is how it would probably have panned out if Ekitike had moved to St James’ Park, that was never Newcastle’s intention.
Instead, they saw Isak and Ekitike playing in the same team, which could still happen — albeit 170 miles away at Anfield.To say that Newcastle are upset about Liverpool gazumping them to sign Ekitike is an understatement and, naturally, that will make negotiations over Isak even more difficult if, as expected, the Premier League champions return with an improved offer this month.
Newcastle, however, are far from resigned to defeat with Isak. Howe and the Newcastle board are playing a game of good cop, bad cop.Newcastle are preparing for their star striker to stay, based on a refusal to allow Isak to leave unless Liverpool pay close to £150m and a Champions League-quality replacement can be found (expectations are low on both fronts), as well as a belief that Howe can talk the striker around and coax him into performing again.
Interestingly, a Premier League owner and an experienced sporting director both told The Athletic they would not be surprised if Isak ends up being reintegrated into the Newcastle squad, in part because they do not expect Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the club’s chairman, to back down but also because they question whether the player will be as stubborn and defiant as those with knowledge of his thinking make out.
Newcastle never saw the Isak bombshell coming. They knew he had been unsettled for a while, but never suspected he was so desperate to get out of the club and would behave in such a way.It says everything that in their talks with prospective signings this summer, Newcastle told the strikers they approached that they would be in a squad with Isak, which was hardly going to help their cause when trying to convince another centre-forward to sign.
It was, however, genuinely how the club saw things at the time.Clearly, there are all sorts of lessons for Newcastle to learn when they reflect on the window. There is already an acceptance that the club did not act quickly enough when the season ended and that their strategy in the transfer market was not as refined as it should have been.
But it is hard to look beyond the absence of leadership at the top and the pressure that has been put on a makeshift recruitment team to deliver.Ultimately, that comes back to PIF, which never does anything in a hurry. Its exhaustive due diligence — constant presentations and committees — makes decision-making painstakingly slow for those involved, to the point it can be draining and hugely frustrating, which pretty much describes Newcastle’s window.
At least there has been some good news this week that has helped to shift the narrative. A deal for Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsey is close, on the back of Malick Thiaw completing his £35m move from Milan on Wednesday.GO DEEPERWhy do Newcastle want Jacob Ramsey and what would selling mean for Aston Villa?
With Elanga and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale already in the building, Newcastle will have made four more first-team ready signings than they did in the previous three windows combined, raising hopes that they can still emerge from a difficult summer in a positive state — a proven striker or two, depending on Isak’s future, would need to arrive for that to be the case.
Beyond that, it is hard to escape the feeling that the next best signing Newcastle can make is a sporting director. They are expected to choose Nottingham Forest’s chief football officer Ross Wilson for the role, an appointment that cannot come soon enough.(Top photos: Getty Images; design Kelsea Petersen)
