Newcastle won’t sign Isco despite reports

Eddie Howe isn’t short of midfielders with Sean Longstaff, Bruno Guimaraes, Joe Willock and Jonjo Shelvey at his disposal, but the Newcastle United manager could do with more creativity in the middle of the park.

Longstaff scored only one goal with one assist from 24 Premier League games last season, Jonjo Shelvey scored two goals with one assist from 24 league games and Joe Willock scored two goals without an assist from 29 league games, so the trio contributed only seven goals over an entire campaign.

AS (h/t Sport Witness) believe Howe will address the problem by making a move for Isco, saying Newcastle are planning to offer a more lucrative contract than AS Roma and Galatasaray. The 30-year-old has interest from Real Betis and Sevilla too, but it remains to be seen if Newcastle are really keen.

Gallery: High-profile strikers who flopped miserably in the Premier League (FourFourTwo)

Isco joined Real from Malaga in 2013 and has gone on to make 352 appearances in all competitions, scoring 53 goals with 56 assists. The Spanish international has been short of playing time since 2018, however, so the writing has been on the wall for some time.

After two prolific La Liga campaigns (10 goals and 8 assists in 2016/17) (7 goals and 7 assists in 2017/18), Isco started 11/38 league games in 2018/19, 15/38 league games in 2019/20, 8/38 league games in 2020/21 and 3/38 league games in 2021/22.

The 30-year-old hasn’t played a lot of football, would request £3.4m-a-year/£65k-per-week to sign and has contributed just 10 goals in the last four league seasons. Why would Howe go for an underperforming midfielder well past their peak?

In other news, Newcastle should consider Emmanuel Dennis