Newcastle's transfer challenge after Alexander Isak saga as Hopkinson lays down the law

There has been a strong sense of deja vu around Newcastle United of late. One of our biggest players is being consistently linked with a Premier League powerhouse.

Last year, we had to endure relentless media coverage of Liverpool's interest in Alexander Isak as the British press pushed and pushed the narrative that one of the media darlings should buy Isak because he's just too good for little old Newcastle.

It was a sickening time for the Magpies, and then it was made infinitely worse when the Swedish striker started to believe in his own hype and set about causing problems at the club to force a move to the Premier League champions.

Even though Newcastle received an English record fee, it wasn't enough to offset the bitterness that was felt after how everything went down.

David Hopkinson issues a warning to Sandro Tonali's agent

Here we are, one year on, and it feels like it's all happening again with Sandro Tonali and Manchester United.

The media's entitled view that the Italian is simply too good to be at Newcastle and should be at a 'big six' side is being combined with Tonali's agent dropping hints that he wants a move at every opportunity.

While David Hopkinson didn't do much to quell fears that a big-name star or two could be sold this summer in his chat with reporters on Monday, he did try to make a point that almost felt like a thinly veiled warning to Sandro Tonali and his agent in this little snippet from a larger conversation about a change in transfer strategy.

"We haven’t got an overall strategy with regard to players out, necessarily. We think through what players might or might not want to do this summer.

"But if an Isak-like scenario presents itself again, any player under contract is going to leave on our terms, and we’re going to maximise the opportunity that might represent for the club."

It's a nice statement, but is it realistic?

Essentially, the club won't stand in the way of any player who is agitating to leave, which is definitely the right thing to do to avoid another situation like last year, but said player will not be in charge of negotiations.

The question we have is, how is this going to work? Newcastle still got paid handsomely for Isak, but they had to wait until the very end of the window because Liverpool were playing hardball, hoping that Isak's antics would move the needle.

Simply saying that they will allow a player to leave doesn't really open the door. The buying club still has to cough up the money, and if they don't want to do that, the process could drag on, during which time, the player involved could dip into the Isak bag of tricks anyway.