What went wrong for Newcastle this summer so far?
What is the problem with the recruitment of Newcastle? Will Alexander remain Isak? Is the transfer window still edited for the side of Eddie Howe?
From missing important goals to rivals to Isak who wants to explore a switch from St James 'Park, Sky Sports News' Keith Downie answers the most important questions …
What has been the most important problem with Newcastle recruitment this season?
There have been various problems that the club has had to deal with.
The first of these and the most striking is the fact that they had to operate without sports director.
Paul Mitchell on the left at the start of the transfer window and it has left a gaping gap in the football club.
Eddie Howe, who was left to pick up the pieces, said he only learned about Mitchell's departure when he was on vacation. Mitchell is said to have done all the negotiation and dealing with other clubs, but that has been left to Howe and his cousin Andy.
Andy Howe is in the recruitment department and is very highly regarded, but negotiating high -quality transfers has been something completely new for him this summer. He learned at work. It is not his fault, he was thrown into the deep.
The other problem has identified players on which other clubs would like.
If you look at the players they have directed, Dean Huijsen chose Real Madrid. Liam Delap and Joao Pedro chose Chelsea.
Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo chose Manchester United, with Benjamin Sesko to follow them to Old Trafford. The front three in Manchester United next season are three players who are Newcastle, held or have tried to sign.
Goalkeeper James Trafford went to Manchester City because of a clause in his Burnley contract, and Hugo Ekitike was of course pinched by Liverpool.
Newcastle was close to signing the Frenchman in a club record agreement, only to be ponded by the Anfield-Kant that Salt then rubbed the wounds by disturbing Alexander Isak to a point where he refused to travel on the pre-season tour of Newcastle.
If you look at the teams they missed players for, it is at the highest level Champions League teams and Manchester United, who, despite having a bad season, are still one of the largest clubs in the world.
It could prove that the talent identification of Newcastle is good, but due to the fact that they cannot match the wages offered and the status of many of these clubs, those two ingredients have made life together for the club in this window.
At the end of the season, Howe was pain to emphasize that a small pool of players in Newcastle is interested and that he expected that other clubs would also be interested in it. He expected competition, but not as intense as it has been.
He appealed to the club to act quickly and decisively in the window, but instead they separated the company at Mitchell and could not replace him in a very important summer for Newcastle.
Some will say that the Isak situation was avoidable because they knew that he wanted to promote his career months ago, but the other way around Liverpool really came to the table in the past few weeks. It is never easy if you are dealing with a Premier League record transfer, so I have sympathy with the club and the manager.
They want to grow, so they have to keep their very best player to do that. They are also in a strong position where Isak has left his contract for three years.
They also had bad luck with how the Isak situation took place at the same time that they went for Ekitike. Now they may be able to lose both Ekitike and Isak to Liverpool.
Three weeks ago I was outside St James' Park when Newcastle made a £ 70 million offer for Ekitike and I said it would be great if they could have both him and Isak in their ranks next season. Now both were able to wear Liverpool's red in September.
Is there sympathy for Eddie Howe amidst the fans – and should you certainly be frustrated?
There is sympathy towards Howe van de fans about the way Isak has led to in recent weeks.
There is also sympathy that he has left so much responsibility on his shoulders, especially when he has not recovered long from a serious illness itself, admitted to the hospital with pneumonia.
In Celtic he saw exhausted a few weeks ago – and that was before the Sesko -Saga.
It was a very difficult and bruises for him outside the field. This was the summer when Newcastle should strengthen, with money to spend, prior to another Champions League campaign.
But while we are sitting here three weeks before the end of the window, they only signed Anthony Elanga and Aaron Ramsdale on loan. They have also lost players of the team, such as Calum Wilson and Sean Longstaff have moved to other Premier League parties and still have to be upgraded.
There is a lot of frustration among the fans that they come close to signing new players, but then they are picked up.
There may never have been a transfer window when a club that has been looking forward to this season so much, and just behind the back of their first trophy success in 70 years, has missed so many goals.
Howe itself is enormously frustrated, but he tries to make the best out of the situation.
I think he felt that after the arrival of Elanga a few weeks ago several new faces and major players would follow, but it didn't work out.
The positive thing about all this, and the supporters must understand this, is that Newcastle still has a strong team.
Yes, they may not have a strong enough team or enough numbers to compete with the schedule that Champions League football entails, but they still have a strong team. There are good players available from Howe, and it is crucial that money remains to spend.
So provided that they have goals that remain available, I still expect Newcastle to be active between now and the end of the transfer window.
They still have to bring in a center-back, a striker and I would also like to introduce another midfielder.
If not Sesko, what for Newcastle? Does Isak stay or focuses on another striker?
The club's message is all the time that they do not allow Isak to leave without preparing a ready-made replacement at the highest level.
Sesko was seen as that man, which is why they made such a large selection to sign him. It would have destroyed the transfer record of the club, which was ironically established three years ago by Isak.
They still don't want to sell Isak and that is why there is a price tag of £ 150 million for him.
But because of the way he behaved, and how enthusiastic is how enthusiastic about harmony and promoting a real team environment, there can be a situation in which they have to sell him.
The second non-negotiable is that they receive an offer that they cannot refuse for Isak.
They have already rejected an offer of £ 110 million plus add-ons from Liverpool. Although Newcastle appreciated him for £ 150 million, I would like to propose that they should come to a kind of agreement for Isak somewhere in the middle to leave St James' Park this summer. I cannot see Liverpool in this phase of the window that Liverpool increases by £ 35 million.
But unless Newcastle gets a replacement, I can't see him go, so that is why there is still a chance that we will see Isak wearing the back and white of Newcastle this season. That can be problematic because it feels like he has burned his bridges with a large part of the supporters and perhaps also the manager.
It will be absolutely fascinating to see if he will wear the black -white of Newcastle or the Red or Liverpool when Arne Slot's side visits St. James' Park for the second game of the season.
Somehow that game will have an incredible atmosphere after what Liverpool tried this summer this summer, both on the Ekitike and on the front of Ekitike.
Will Newcastle strengthen other areas? Have there been new links with Marc Guehi?
If Newcastle fails in their attempts to land Sesko and he chooses Manchester United, it will really be intriguing to see if they are trying to get another player as a replacement for Isak. I think they have made an honest offer for rush hour, everything they could throw.
Newcastle has been trying for a few weeks to bring in Yoanne Wissa from Brentford, but he is seen as the replacement for Wilson, not Isak.
We still have to see if there is another target to replace Isak and it is possible that there is no one they think they are needed to come in and fill his boots. It feels like they no longer have any options.
Newcastle is still happy to be a central defender and a midfielder next to possibly two strikers. If Isak goes, I can see them try to bring in four players before the window closes. It can be a few hectic weeks.
There have been new reports around a movement for Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi.
I was in front of that story last summer. Newcastle has made several efforts to sign it, but could not agree with a fee with Palace. They offered no less than £ 65 million.
I think there is still interest there, but there is interest in a number of defenders, such as Giorgio Scalvini in Atalanta. He is a player who scouted a lot and they are certainly interested in him. They also love Malik Thiaw from AC Milan.
There were reports in Germany today that the club made an offer for the German international, but my information is that they are only interested in this stage and those reports are premature.
There is also competition for Guehi from Liverpool and a few other clubs, so that would not be an easy deal to be done – but there is a clear expectation that they will bring a defender before the deadline.
How can Newcastle save this transfer window before Deadline Day?
Simply put – by setting some new signing sessions.
If they can bring in a decent central defender, a good option in midfield and possibly Wissa stay next to Isak or Wissa Plus leaves another attacker like Isak, they would save the window to a certain extent.
But because it took so long to get these transfers over the line, they have become so long -term, the supporters have become very frustrated.
Everyone who covers the club, supports the club and works for the club, is exhausted by the transfer window. It has been a punitive summer.
It is still editing, but without a doubt this transfer window has been awarded to a price because it has been a real bruising experience for those involved.
I think Eddie Howe will openly admit the importance of a sports director, and he realized this this summer. It is a crucial task. It is negligent to attack their most important transfer window in two years without one at the helm.
Howe is a hands-on manager and he likes to be heavily involved in transfers, but I think this window will enable him to realize that having a sports director there as a buffer and to help with negotiations are crucial in contemporary football.
The next three weeks will dictate the Newcastle season, but there is still time to alleviate the series of successes that the fans had to endure.