Newcastle United have rarely got things wrong in the transfer market in the PIF era.
While it would have been nice to see Newcastle strengthen their first-team options more in the last two transfer windows, PSR rules just haven’t allowed for that to happen.
When it comes to the players they have signed, it’s difficult to think of many that have not worked out.
Lewis Hall and Sandro Tonali may have taken a while to get going for different reasons but the pair now seem to have key roles in Eddie Howe’s first-team.
Even Yankuba Minteh had his uses. Despite never playing for the club, his sale this summer helped balance the books on the PSR front.
The Newcastle United owners deserve credit for that. For all the talk of PIF being the richest owners in world football, they have signed sensibly even before PSR rules tightened.
Still, that’s not to say major money hasn’t been spent and big transfer fees obviously bring a level of risk.
Alexander Isak of Newcastle United celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the Premier League match between Newcastle United FC and Liverpo...
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Which is why Howe is so pleased the signing of Alexander Isak worked out.
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In the summer of 2022, Newcastle splashed out a club record of £63million to sign the striker.
Thankfully, it’s worked out. Isak has been a brilliant addition and his record of 41 goals and eight assists in 67 Premier League games is pretty remarkable.
READ MORE: Who is Alexander Isak? Age, Height, Family, Nationality, Roots
Prior to signing for Newcastle, Isak had only really had one prolific season – which came during the 2020/21 campaign at Real Sociedad in which he bagged 17 times. It’s worth noting Isak did score 13 for Willem II in 2018/19 but La Liga is generally considered a much higher level than the Eredivisie.
Howe is pleased that he took the risk on Isak despite a relatively indifferent track record before his move, despite his obvious quality.
“He had that one season where he scored a large amount of goals in La Liga at such a young age, and that isn’t easy to do,” he said (via The Northern Echo).
“I felt he had the goalscoring prowess to deliver that into the Premier League, albeit there’s always a slight question mark because until you see it delivered in the Premier League, with the physicality of this league, you never quite know how it transfers.
“That’s where I have to give him a huge compliment because I think he’s made that step from the various leagues that he’s been in to come to the Premier League. I think he’s done really well. He’s taken everything in his stride.”
The exciting prediction Newcastle have about Alexander Isak
Amazingly, those behind the scenes at the club are understood to think Isak still has capacity to improve and could yet get even better.
Having outscored pretty much everyone other than Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah since his arrival in England, that is seriously exciting for Newcastle.
Hopefully, he sticks around long enough for Newcastle to see what he may become…
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