Newcastle have had to deal with a number of problems. First and most notably, they are forced to operate without a sporting director.
Paul Mitchell left right at the start of the 2025 summer transfer window, leaving a huge void in the club's operations.
Coach Eddie Howe, who has been forced to shoulder much of the responsibility, said he only received news of Mitchell leaving during his vacation. Mitchell should have been in charge of negotiating and bargaining with other clubs, but that job was handed over to Howe and his nephew Andy.
Andy Howe works in the recruitment department and is highly appreciated. However, negotiating the transfer of high-class players is a completely new experience for him this summer. Therefore, it is not Andy's fault, but that he was put in a difficult situation.
Another problem is that the Magpies have identified the players who are receiving interest from other clubs.
If you look at the names they have targeted: Dean Huijsen has chosen Real Madrid, while Liam Delap and Joao Pedro have both decided to join Chelsea.
Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo have chosen Manchester United, and Benjamin Sesko is expected to follow them to Old Trafford. Man United's attacking trio next season will include three players that Newcastle have loved or tried to recruit.
Goalkeeper James Trafford also joined Manchester City due to a clause in his contract with Burnley. And of course, Hugo Ekitike has been signed by Liverpool.
Newcastle were close to recruiting the Frenchman for a record fee in the club's history, but were eventually overtaken by Liverpool.
The port city team even made the situation worse afterwards. They made Alexander Isak so dissatisfied that he refused to join the pre-season tour with Newcastle.
If you look at the teams that Newcastle has lost their targets, they are all big names in Europe. As for Man United, despite having just had an unimpressive season, they are still one of the biggest clubs in the world.
This shows that Newcastle's ability to identify transfer targets is very good. However, the inability to compete on salary and position compared to top clubs are two main factors that have caused them many difficulties in this transfer period.
At the end of the 2024-2025 season, Howe repeatedly emphasized that Newcastle only focused on a certain group of players. And he predicted other clubs would also be interested in those names. The English captain predicted that there would be competition, but did not expect it to be so fierce.
Howe has called on the club to act quickly and decisively in the summer transfer window of 2025. But instead, they parted ways with Paul Mitchell and failed to find a replacement in a key summer with Newcastle.
Some people will think that Isak's situation can be handled completely early, because they have known that he really wanted to develop his career many months ago.
However, the reality is that Liverpool have only really jumped into this deal in recent weeks. It is never easy to face a transfer deal that could break Premier League records.
Newcastle want to develop, and to do that, they have to keep their best players. They are also in the lead, with Isak still having 3 years left on his contract.
Unfortunately, Isak's future story exploded right at the time they were pursuing Hugo Ekitike. Now, they are at risk of losing both Ekitike and Isak to Liverpool.
