The Alexander Isak agent has had a lot of criticism of how he treated this Newcastle to Liverpool – relocation – and I understand.
Isak has mentioned broken promises about being allowed to leave, but changing things in football.
How often did a player sign for a manager who told them: “We are building this team around you”, and then they didn't play for six months?
But that is why I don't blame Isak for trusting his agent above the club and trying to force things through by not showing up.
At the end of the day, Newcastle wants what is best for Newcastle. His agent will want a lot independently, but in the end it is his job to do well by his player.
But how they should have played it is how I played it with my agent when I was pushing to return from Walsall to Watford in the summer of 2010.
In Privé my agent said to me: “You will have to kick a hassle here.
“You go back to training and you will do all the running, but as soon as a ball is involved, you have to ruin sessions, you have to kick balls away.
“But more importantly, you can't let anyone on the outside know what's going on.”
It was really difficult, you would go home and feel guilty, ad *** in training for no reason, burning bridges for people you like.
But you just have to remember who you do it: yourself. That is how Isak will feel. This is a career-changing, career-relevant movement.
You go from Newcastle to one of the largest clubs in world football in Liverpool, where you will probably win big titles.
But Isak did not go in the smart way, and the agent has been pretty lazy in that respect, with major mistakes.
He makes his player look like he's a troublemaker because he doesn't get it done.
He should have immediately said to Isak: “Go to work, tap, do all the runs, do all that so that you are fit, but as soon as the ball is introduced, claim that your back hurts and you go inside.”
When it is done, the messages are very different.
Newcastle -Baas Eddie Howe can then go to the media and say: “He trains but he has a bit of an injury problem”.
You can then have people speculate, but they cannot deny that you are there.
Now I know that these are very different circumstances in terms of the size of the clubs involved, but the principles still apply. You have to be smart in the way you do things like this.
It is the same with Yoane Wissa and the way he tried to leave Brentford for Newcastle, who remove photos on his social media as if he were a bitter ex. It is unnecessary.
And there is still a perspective that people don't look at with Isak.
Who is the most famous Swedish football player? Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
He is remembered when winning titles in several countries, was not worried about disturbing the apple car to get a move and is recognized as the largest ever in his country.
Isak will certainly think: “If I stay in Newcastle, I will be a hero in Newcastle, but will I be remembered with Zlatan?
“Probably not. I have to win titles at the biggest and the best clubs in the world”.
And all this talk about ruining his estate in Newcastle? The legacy of Isak is in stone. He played a huge role in winning a large domestic trophy for the first time in 70 years.
Great such as Alan Shearer or Peter Beardsley have never succeeded.
Isak will always be on those photos of Newcastle that lifts the Carabao Cup. No fan backlaw or hatred will ever erase that.
And even if Isak Shearer's Newcastle and Premier League went to beat Goalscores record, will that be more satisfying than winning trophies in Liverpool? No.
Most logical fans will turn around and say: we have made about £ 90 million back on that boy and he scored 23 league goals, qualified for the Champions League and won the Carabao Cup.
Has he left you in a bad place? No.
It is now a case of who will first blink, and I think we are closer to a deal than last week, because Isak has buried and said, “The relationship cannot continue”.
Howe wants a resolution. Anthony Gordon has said that the team must be resolved. They look at the Jorgen Strand Larsen from Wolves. They are still trying to get Wissa over the line.
It is as if they already spend the dough and with the PSR problems they have, there is only one sale that can bridge that gorge – and it is Isak.
They need to go across the line.
It is the same with Crystal Palace that leaves Ebereechi Eze. He has addressed questions about his future in a better way, but there is still something to say about him playing and posting Tottenham while waiting for Arsenal.
There were reports that Spurs would be willing to include Richarlison in a Swap deal for Eze – really? Richarlison, the man who started the season with two goals?
I know Richy better than most of them, after he had played with him in Watford, and when he is on it, he is difficult to stop and Thomas Frank saw him in the preseason and said: “Go to Son, show me what you have”.
The biggest test will be if Frank drops him for the Manchester City game.
If he does that, I would say he should leave Spurs because it is clear that Frank doesn't really like him.
Richy has to play consistently this season, because a world cup is around the corner with Brazil.
For me, Frank has to stay with him and see what kind of run he can go.
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