· 16 May 2025, 19:00
**Eddie Howe spoke to the media on Friday morning ahead of his Newcastle United side facing Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon for a 4:30pm kick-off live on Sky Sports.**
Newcastle and Arsenal have developed quite a bitter rivalry over the last couple of seasons, which seemed to kick off after Anthony Gordon's controversial goal was awarded against Mikel Arteta's men which proved to be the winner.
The two sides have met three times already this season, with Eddie Howe's men emerging victorious on each occasion, but away from the pitch, there has been an ongoing narrative about Alexander Isak leaving Newcastle to join Arsenal.
With the fixture coming up, it seemed the perfect time to dig all that up again, with the Newcastle boss being asked his thoughts on the transfer links.
Newcastle United are no longer a selling club
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Eddie Howe downplayed the transfer rumours initially, saying he tries not to take notice, but then moved to make sure that other clubs know that his top players are not for sale.
> "It is a frustration because I don't see why our players are getting linked here, there and everywhere with other clubs. I'd like to think the players are happy here.
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> "I'd like to think again that they're seeing us grow and develop into a team that hopefully can compete at the top end of the division. We have no divine right to do that, but I think we're going in the right direction, so yes, it's a source of frustration. But I don't let it absorb me, really."
Eddie Howe's use of the phrase 'divine right' made us chuckle
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As we've said many times, it doesn't make sense to sell our top stars when the aim is to build a squad capable of challenging for trophies, and Eddie Howe has now hammered home that point.
It's funny to us that Howe used to term 'divine right' in his response, as that has always been what was most frustrating about the Isak to Arsenal links, is that the media portrayed it as though Arsenal have a divine right to Isak, so it's good to see that thrown back in their faces.
Besides, Isak loves scoring against Arsenal, why would he want to put himself in a position where he can't do that anymore?