Newcastle will wait to resolve the future of Sweden striker Alexander Isak, 25, before deciding whether to move for Chelsea striker Jackson. (PA news agency), external
Newcastle have made a bid for Brentford's Yoane Wissa, but Liverpool are monitoring the situation as they see the DR Congo forward, 28, as an alternative if they fail to sign Isak. (Caught Offside), external
France forward Randal Kolo Muani, 26, would prefer to join Juventus than Newcastle after spending the second half of last season on loan with the Italian club from Paris St-Germain. (Teamtalk), external
Sunderland have enquired about signing 26-year-old English defender Lloyd Kelly, who has just joined Juventus on an obligation-to-buy move after an initial loan from Newcastle. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian), external
Countdown to 2025-26 season is on - but are the Magpies ready?published at 19:55 BST 9 August
19:55 BST 9 August
Pre-season is completed and the countdown to the 2025-26 season is on.
It's been a frustrating summer at Newcastle with many transfer targets opting to move elsewhere and star man Alexander Isak currently training away from the first team amid fierce speculation about his future.
The Magpies start the season at Aston Villa on Saturday - but are they ready?
Newcastle end pre-season winless after Atletico defeatpublished at 18:06 BST 9 August
18:06 BST 9 August
Image source, Getty Images
Newcastle ended their pre-season with a 2-0 defeat against Atletico Madrid at St James' Park on Saturday.
Second half goals from Julian Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann consigned the Magpies to their fourth defeat in six friendlies, with the other two finishing as draws.
Their will be further concern for Eddie Howe as forward Anthony Gordon hobbled off late on after receiving treatment for a leg problem.
'Clear we can't involve him with the group' - Howe on Isakpublished at 13:45 BST 9 August
13:45 BST 9 August
Image source, Getty Images
Eddie Howe says he "can't involve" Alexander Isak at Newcastle United as things stand.
Newcastle rejected a bid from Liverpool last week after the striker wanted to explore his options.
Howe has previously warned no player could expect to act "poorly and train with group as normal".
The Magpies boss has not closed the door on Isak one day representing Newcastle again - but stressed on Friday that the situation "had to be right for that to happen".
"We've had discussions and it's clear at the moment that we can't involve him with the group," he said after Newcastle's 2-2 draw in a friendly on Friday against Espanyol. "I don't know how long that will be for, but that's the latest."
"I'd want Alex to be playing today. I'd want him training tomorrow. We would love the player to be with us.
"Let me make that absolutely clear. There's no part of me that doesn't want that outcome, but I don't see the current situation changing for Aston Villa."
'Newcastle United became the tether that kept me rooted there' - fan storiespublished at 15:46 BST 8 August
15:46 BST 8 August
You have been sharing your stories and photos about why you love Newcastle.
Here is a final selection of your submissions, but do make sure you scroll down this page to see all the best responses from throughout the week:
Howard: I've been a supporter since 1965.
In 1968, I was appointed first cashier at Lloyds on Newgate Street where Newcastle United banked. Every home game we would go to the ground to collect the takings from the gate men.
I have many stories around this, including how we came to almost lead the players out for the first leg of the Fairs Cup Final.
After they won the cup, Bobby Moncur came to the branch with the cup as the club felt they needed to improve security and asked that we hold it for safekeeping and handed the cup to me. No selfies in those days.
Image caption,
John: With all the talk of new signings and star players leaving, I thought I'd share the following. In 1925, my grandfather saw new signing Hughie Gallagher run out in the black and white stripes. He said: "The ball was stuck to his boot when he went through the defence and scored two goals. Legs like the oak at the bottom of the street - hard as the hobs of hell!" Grandpa took my dad in 1930-31 to see him return with Chelsea and with 68,000 in attendance. "Had your dad on my shoulders - I could only see him in black and white," he said.
John: I was born in North Shields, but moved away when I was three. Newcastle United became the tether that kept me rooted there, no matter the distance. My first ever football match wasn't even at Newcastle but hiding within the home fans at the City Ground in Nottingham. My dad was praying that eight-year-old me would keep quiet when Shearer put away a penalty right in front of us. We made it through undetected, a win for the Toon in our memory, and shared a laugh on the way home at our 'secret mission'.
'Newcastle are getting a great talent in Ramsdale' published at 08:47 BST 8 August
08:47 BST 8 August
Image source, Getty Images
FA Goalkeeper Coach Eric Steele speaking on BBC Radio Newcastle about the Magpies' newest recruit Aaron Ramsdale: "Newcastle are getting a really good talent. I worked with Aaron in the Euros Under-19s a few years back now and he is a great player. He is a great lad to have around, he is a family lad.
"This is a huge season for Newcastle in which they are going to be involved in the Premier League and European games and Eddie Howe knows he needs people who can step out in certain games.
"Sometimes he will play Pope [Nick Pope] and sometimes Ramsdale.
"You can't expect the same 11 to be going out every week. Ramsdale has been brought in to push Pope and it will be interesting to see how Pope reacts.
"Ramsdale is 27 years-old so there is lots of room for development. He has worked with Howe before so that will have helped him clinch the deal."
On whether goalkeepers should be expected to be good with their feet, Steele added: "We have gone too far in terms of expecting a goalkeeper to have the same distribution skills as some of the outfield players.
"The main reason you put a goalkeeper in is to defend the goal. That's their prime job.
"Howe has got the balance right at Newcastle in terms of what he expects of his goalkeepers. If you want to have a good season, you need three or four goalkeepers."
Former Newcastle centre-back Steve Howey added: "Ideally you would have a settled goalkeeper because then you know what he is like.
"But as long as players have a good understanding of their goalkeeper, you haven't got a problem."
Gossip: Bayern target Jacksonpublished at 07:59 BST 8 August
07:59 BST 8 August
Bayern Munich have enquired about 24-year-old Senegal striker Nicolas Jackson, who Chelsea value at £48m, and is also a target for Newcastle United. (Sky Sports Germany), external
Newcastle striker Alexander Isak will not play for the club in pre-season games against Espanyol and Atletico Madrid this weekend amid uncertainty about his future and interest from Liverpool. (Mail - subscription required), external
'The Gallowgate End sucked me in' - fan storiespublished at 16:32 BST 7 August
16:32 BST 7 August
This week, we are asking you to share your stories and photos for why you fell in love with Newcastle.
Here is a selection of your submissions:
Image source, BBC Sport
Image caption,
Dean: It's a family thing. Passed down from one generation to another.
Len: My first game was in August 1969. Newcastle United hosted Manchester City two days after my sixth birthday. I wore the black-and-white scarf my aunt had knitted for my present. I was passed over the heads of the men in the Gallowgate End and put down on the running track. Pop Robson scored the only goal of the game from a first-half penalty. I was sucked in by the noise and fell in love at once.
Image caption,
Anthony: I was born in Wallsend, but we moved to the north east of Scotland when I was four in 1980. While my first ever game was Aberdeen beating Bayern Munich in the Cup Winners Cup in 1983 - (I was too small to see any of the five goals), Newcastle was always my first and only love. I used to get free Panini swaps of the Newcastle players from school friends and it was the late 1980s before I got to see Newcastle live for the first time as we lost 2-0 to Charlton in a relegation season.
John: In 1979 when I was 12, I used to get the bus into town when Newcastle were at home on a Saturday and stand outside the ground with a little transistor radio I won in a comic competition.
I would walk round listening to the commentary and visualise being in the Gallowgate End.
One derby year I stood where the stand met the terrace where there was a lower wall. I could feel the atmosphere and it was electric.
Then a man stretched out and I heard a voice shout: "Here, bonny lad!"
Who should Newcastle now target?published at 15:54 BST 7 August
15:54 BST 7 August
Image source, Getty Images
The Telegraph's Luke Edwards says Newcastle "will be kicking themselves about missing" out on Joao Pedro and James Trafford, more so than Hugo Ekitike and Benjamin Sesko.
"They wanted players that could come straight in and play Champions League football," said Edwards on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast. "It is a very small pool of talent that can do that.
"Newcastle have gone for good players because that's why other clubs have gone for them, but they have failed to get them over the line.
"If they had worked faster, then Pedro and Trafford should have been theirs but ultimately they left the door open for Chelsea and Manchester City to swoop in.
"They are the two players they will be kicking themselves about missing."
So where else can Eddie Howe look now that Benjamin Sesko looks to be swaying towards a move to Manchester United?
"There could be legs in going for Nicolas Jackson as Chelsea are open to selling him as they have strengthened their attack and they continue to do so," said BBC Sport's senior correspondent Sami Mokbel.
"There is interest there from Newcastle, but I also understand that there are several individuals at St James' Park that need to be fully convinced that he is the right option for them.
"Someone who has credit in the bank is Ollie Watkins because he is a proven Premier League striker who has scored a lot of goals.
"Howe looks at him as a safer pair of hands because he is multifunctional and can play through the middle as well as out wide.
"But I can see why Newcastle would prioritise Jackson when Watkins is entering the twilight part of his career."
Four reasons for Newcastle's summer of frustrationpublished at 13:48 BST 7 August
13:48 BST 7 August
Ciaran Kelly Newcastle United reporter
Image source, Getty Images
Boardroom upheaval for the second summer
Sporting director Paul Mitchell left in May while chief executive Darren Eales handed in his notice last autumn because of a serious health problem.
His replacement has not yet been announced.
It has been far from ideal and left Eddie Howe at the coalface.
Hamstrung by spending rules
They were never the richest club in the world despite having the wealthiest owners.
Newcastle may be backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund - and the Reuben family, but the Magpies' income streams still pale in comparison to the established order.
The Alexander Isak saga
Never more have these restrictions been more apparent than in the Isak saga.
This transfer situation has become a crossroads moment for the Newcastle project.
The struggle to make signings
As well as the issue of holding on to their best player, Newcastle have found it hard to sign others and strengthen their squad more generally.
The club had a list of key targets for summer - and so far all of them, bar Benjamin Sesko have signed for another club.
'It becomes really hard to separate yourself from it'published at 11:44 BST 7 August
11:44 BST 7 August
Nicola Pearson BBC Sport journalist
Image source, Danielle Sarver Coombs
When it comes to our love for a football club, the answer to why we do lies in "both psychological and societal" reasons.
In the first part of her chat with BBC Sport, researcher and co-writer of the Routledge Handbook of Sport Fans and Fandom Danielle Sarver Coombs spoke about the part that identity and tradition play.
And yet when we are caught up in the emotions of a tough defeat or nerves of an important match, we can often ask why we put ourselves through it.
"There are psychological processes at work and physiological ones in terms of how we respond and engage," Sarver Coombs said.
"An example that I always give is when I take the train to work, I go past Arsenal's stadium and I feel literally nothing other than: 'Oh, that's a big building'. Whereas on a train to Manchester, I went by Villa Park and my heart started pounding. I got all excited and was trying to take pictures out the window.
"I had a visceral reaction to this place. We can't pretend we don't have that sort of physical reaction because we do.
"When someone is talking about a controversial decision and I feel myself getting wound up, even though I intellectually know that I can't control it and that it's just a game, my body doesn't know that.
"My gut doesn't know that and so I have this really emotional response and we can't control that."
A 2023 book titled 'Football on the brain: why minds love sport, external' suggests it comes down to 'an understandable and logical consequence of the human mind's natural inclination to find meaning through beliefs... It's a religion as far as the brain is concerned'.
But it not just about what is going on inside the mind but outside influences too.
"There is a sociological element to it because the community part is such a huge driver and benefit for us," Sarver Coombs explains.
"Sociologically, we are driven to be part of communities. We are driven to find our groups that we can be members of. Sport provides a way to do that - this sense that I was chosen to be part of this community and it's something bigger than I am."
As the game expands, unrest among supporters seems to be increasing, but how does that impact this ingrained love for a club?
"You always go through these cycles when the game is changing," Sarver Coombs said.
"Despite all the changes, the traditions remain so strong and it's such a huge draw that it becomes really hard to actually separate yourself from it. Even if you do, it tends to be a short-term separation. You get sucked back in because something happens.
"People don't want that change, but then we adapt to it and continue moving forward."
Browse this page to see lots of fan stories for how you fell in love with your club.
Newcastle are 'The Undateables'published at 11:18 BST 7 August
11:18 BST 7 August
Image source, Getty Images
"Newcastle have become the football equivalent of 'The Undateables' this summer because of the amount of people they have tried to sign and been rejected by", says The Telegraph's Luke Edwards.
Manchester United hijacking the Magpies' bid for Benjamin Sesko is now the latest disappointment for Eddie Howe.
"It will hurt but it is just repeating what has happened all summer," added Edwards on the BBC Radio 5 Live Football Daily podcast. "They go in for elite targets but every time they do, one of the legacy big six comes in too and snaps them up.
"Sesko has been tracked by Newcastle for a number of years and so had Hugo Ekitike. They were both pursued long term and it's failed.
"Unfortunately, as good as Eddie Howe's side have been since the takeover, they are not seen as an elite club in the transfer market.
"It's another nail in the coffin because they have gone head to head in the transfer market and the player has decided against joining them.
"This has ramifications for Alexander Isak as well, but my understanding was that Sesko wasn't being signed as his replacement and they just wanted a second striker.
"I think the only way Isak would go is if they brought in two strikers and they can't even bring in one."
So why are Newcastle struggling to get players through the door this summer?
"Wages are a part of it because they have a wage structure but I think there is still a legacy aura around the big six," added Edwards. "Those clubs are still more attractive on a reputational perspective to players.
"There are also the structural issues of Newcastle not having a sporting director since Paul Mitchell walked out before the transfer window opened. Him leaving wasn't a surprise, but the timing of it caught everyone by surprise.
"Newcastle were too slow at the start of the window, were stuttering and in a strange paralysis."
Gossip: Milan reject Magpies' offer for Thiawpublished at 07:48 BST 7 August
07:48 BST 7 August
Newcastle have bid about 30m euros (£26.2m) for Germany defender Malick Thiaw but AC Milan have not accepted the offer as they want to keep the 23-year-old. (Gazzetta dello Sport - in Italian), external
Sweden striker Alexander Isak has been told to train alone at Newcastle amid interest in him from Liverpool, while the 25-year-old also missed a family day for the players that was put on by the club. (Mirror), external
'It's in the very air you breathe in Newcastle' - fan storiespublished at 16:31 BST 6 August
16:31 BST 6 August
This week, we are asking you to share your stories and photos for why you fell in love with Newcastle.
Here is a selection of your submissions:
Image caption,
Richard: There is nothing as immersive and all pervasive as supporting the Toon. In the park on Monday morning after the cup final, literally every dog walking was festooned with Toon scarfs, hats, badges, rosettes. Every one, without exception. It is just in the very air you breathe in Newcastle.
Ian: It is all about the atmosphere and the occasion. My earliest memories of watching Newcastle were in the late 1960s when I remember being put at the front of the Gallowgate End behind the goal with Newcastle fans mingling with Liverpool fans with strange accents.
Peanuts for a tenner, a bag thrown way into the terraces and sixpences being thrown back onto the ash track for the peanut seller.
Songs echoed around the ground from the Leazes End about the Mighty Wyn while black and white scarves filled the stands. The smell of hops from brewery, Bovril and pies wafting through the air.
Image caption,
John: Some 25 years ago I was coaching 'soccer' in Ohio, USA. It just so happened that a certain team called Newcastle United played a pre-season friendly against Columbus Crew so I had to be there. I met Sir Bobby and a great night was had by all. The match ended 2-2 and I have to say the lads struggled in the humidity and heat. After 15 minutes, Steve Howey was breathing like an asthmatic pit pony. Fabulous memories and a fabulous night.
David: Need to be much more aggressive and proactive with transfers. No disrespect to the players, but without new targets, survival in Europe will be challenging, not to mention the Premier League. It is quite disheartening not to see top-quality players arriving.
Alex: Disheartening? I'm absolutely gutted, with a mix of anger, frustration and dismay! The bottom line is that the senior leadership needs to have a serious look at themselves, since Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi left the club feeling directionless. We have just won our first trophy in a lifetime and have European football again - we should be the strongest we have ever been, on the field and off it. However, the club feels lost, discombobulated. Instead of being proactive, we are reactive.
Wayne: Unfortunately, Newcastle's transfer attempts have been inept, making low-ball offers and tipping off rivals about their intentions. Too slow and too timid. Also, there is no transparency or accountability, so no-one is sure who is responsible for this mess - certainly not Eddie Howe, who is sent out to face the media, apparently with zero knowledge of what is going on.
Tom: Disastrous transfer window so far. Alexander Isak hasn't helped matters with his childish behaviour and the timing of it. Just a reminder, Newcastle United won a cup and qualified for the Champions League last season. The reason players aren't coming is greed - it's as simple as that. Newcastle don't have the income yet to match the 'septic six'.
Rich: This whole saga takes me right back to the 1980s when we were simply a transition club. Great players like Paul Gascoigne, Chris Waddle and Peter Beardsley would raise the hopes and aspirations of us being a great club. Yet we failed to keep them or attract similar players to take us to the next level.
Andy: Howe said so himself that Newcastle had to move quickly in the transfer market. We have been far from it - slow, sluggish, dithering and almost statuesque. Yoane Wissa, Benjamin Sesko, James Trafford, Bryan Mbeumo - I wonder who else will be on the oh-so-close list.
Who does Opta's Supercomputer predict to challenge for Europe?published at 11:57 BST 6 August
11:57 BST 6 August
Opta's Supercomputer has once again predicted the upcoming 2025-26 Premier League season by using a model to simulate every match 10,000 times.
Image source, Opta
It is not yet clear if the team that finishes fifth in this season's Premier League will secure a Champions League spot again as that outcome depends on how representatives performance in Europe this season.
Therefore, based on needing a top-four finish to reach the Champions League and fifth getting the Europa League, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea are favourites again, but there is still plenty of hope for others.
Aston Villa agonisingly missed out on Champions League qualification on the final day, but in almost a third of simulations they do force their way into a top-four spot this time around.
Newcastle's focus may be on trying to keep star striker Alexander Isak, but currently the Supercomputer predicts the Magpies to finish sixth most often, and a top-four finish in 29.9% of simulations.
Meanwhile, after Crystal Palace's strong end to last season brought a first major trophy, the Eagles are given more than a one-in-five chance of a top-four finish. They manage that achievement in 21.6% of sims, ahead of rivals Brighton (16.8%).
In their second season under Fabian Hurzeler, Brighton are predicted an eight-placed finish in the majority of sims.
The Supercomputer ranks Bournemouth (10.1%) and Nottingham Forest (8.9%) as outside shouts for European football this season.
Perhaps surprisingly, Brentford are predicted to have a strong season despite losing Thomas Frank and key players Bryan Mbuemo and Christian Norgaard - with Yoanne Wissa also looking likely to exit.
If as many as seven or eight Premier League clubs can qualify for Europe next season, the door could be open for a surprise team to sneak in.
