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“Newcastle have become the undateables” - Brutal from Luke Edwards on BBC Radio

by Jaspar Shepherdson · 12 August 2025, 08:29
“Newcastle have become the undateables” - Brutal from Luke Edwards on BBC Radio

“We're not here to be popular, we're here to compete" is the unofficial tagline of Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United.

It’s a warning to the footballing elite that the Newcastle United side of much of the 2010s is gone, and that we now stand as a genuine force in English football. Being the reigning Carabao Cup holders and qualifying for two of the last three Champions League campaigns more than justify Howe’s words.

But this summer, what should have been a transformative window that cemented our elite, disruptive status has instead been a humbling experience, and a lesson learned into just how many modern footballers view the club compared to the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’.

The summer has reached such a low point now that  The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards has labelled us as being “the undateables” due to our lack of success in the market.

Luke Edwards’ brutal assessment

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, North East reporter Luke Edwards commented on the club’s repeated shortcomings in this summer’s window.

Having narrowly missed out on signing Benjamin Sesko to Manchester United, despite reportedly offering more money to RB Leipzig and a bigger wage to the player, it’s been the same old story for much of the summer.

It was the same story before Sesko, sadly. Liam Delap and Joao Pedro turned down Newcastle for Chelsea, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha were not just too expensive but 'only wanted Man Utd', Hugo Ekitike chose Liverpool despite a major Newcastle bid and James Trafford ended up back at Man City after a 12-month pursuit was ultimately wasted.

Discussing the situation live on BBC Radio 5 Live, Edwards said:

“Newcastle have become football’s equivalent of the undateables this summer. The amount of people they’ve tried to hook up with, as it were, and keep being rejected.”

“I think it will hurt (Sesko to Man Utd), but it’s just repeating everything that’s happened this summer: they go in for players, they have their list of targets, they’re going for elite targets, every time they go in for somebody, one of the legacy big six come in and snap them away.”

“I think Sesko will hurt, obviously it has ramifications for Alexander Isak and Newcastle as well.”

“It’s just playing up to this idea that unfortunately, as good as Newcastle have been under Eddie Howe since the takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, they are not seen as an elite club in the transfer market.”


What would it take for Newcastle to ‘compete’ in the market again?

Most fans are astounded at how we’ve managed to have less ‘pull’ now, as a club with Champions League football, compared to when we had just been taken over and were staring down the barrel of relegation from the Premier League.

So just what could it possibly take for us to boost our appeal and be seen as a great option for players to continue moving to?

Off-the-field, we’re set to fix our issue of having no sporting director or CEO with the incoming appointments of Ross Wilson and David Hopkinson: if we sort that out, then we immediately come across better from a ‘competent’ point of view.

But it goes beyond staff, with PSR, commercial deals and overall finances playing a huge role in the wages we can offer out.

The issues with Alexander Isak certainly won’t have helped either: if we’ve been less than keen to reward our top player for his efforts, then what message does that send to any other star player? That you can come here and perform but we’re going to be hesitant about offering you a salary increase in line with how much we say we value you?

The sooner we address these two issues publicly, the quicker we may be able to get to work fixing this window and trying to end it on a high, with incoming signing Malick Thiaw hopefully the first of many late deal to salvages a summer of rejections.

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