After Newcastle rejected Liverpool’s £110 million offer this summer, a displeased Isak said on Tuesday night that the “trust is lost” and accused the team of breaking promises.
The 25-year-old, whose contract expires in 2028, asserted that Newcastle has long been aware of his status. “It is misleading to now act as though these issues are just emerging,” he continued. “A relationship cannot last when trust is lost and promises are broken.”
Quick to react, Newcastle said they were “disappointed” with Isak and denied that the striker had been told he could leave by any club official.
The Athletic, however, claims that Isak views his time with the Premier League team as over and has no intention of rejoining the team, even if he does stay past the summer transfer window. The Swede is adamant that he will never play for the Magpies again.
Who else, then, has declined to play for Newcastle? And after they expressed their feelings, what transpired?
George Eastham
In order to play elsewhere, Eastham asked Newcastle for a transfer back in 1959, but the club turned him down. He temporarily quit playing football and made an appeal to the Football League, but nothing came of it.
He eventually transferred from Newcastle to Arsenal in 1960, but Eastham took the matter to court.
Eastham won the case three years later, in 1963, when the High Court deemed the retain-and-transfer policy to be a “restraint of trade.” Giving players more autonomy and changing their relationship with clubs, the ruling was a watershed in professional football.
Craig Bellamy
Bellamy has since downplayed past claims that he was sold by former Newcastle manager Graeme Souness because he would not play for the team when healthy.
“He refused to play when he was fit,” Souness said to talkSPORT when asked if he had expelled Bellamy from the team. He was a young man who was always talking about improving and moving up the ladder; in that sense, he was a true, authentic player.
“One day he decided not to play, so I went right away and took him to the chairman. I told him, ‘Look, we have a player who says he’s not willing to play and he’s fit,’ and I asked him to repeat it in front of Freddy Shepherd, which he did.”
“The board and I decided together that he should leave the football club,” Souness continued.
Charles N’Zogbia
In response to manager Joe Kinnear’s repeated mispronunciation of his last name during an interview, N’Zogbia vowed never to play for Newcastle again. The two got into a fight after Kinnear called the player “Insomnia” in January 2009.
A few weeks later, Ryan Taylor moved to Wigan Athletic in exchange for N’Zogbia, who signed a £6 million contract.
“The best thing for me was to move on,” the Frenchman said, acknowledging that he was “really unhappy” with Kinnear. I no longer wanted to play for that manager. I have played here for Newcastle and know all about Wigan; it’s a fantastic young team that is headed in the right direction.
Yohan Cabaye
In 2013, for example. Cabaye declined to play for Newcastle in order to get a transfer to Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal.
He missed games against West Ham and Manchester City at the beginning of the 2013–24 season, soon after the Magpies turned down Arsenal’s bid of £10.2 million for the midfield player.
Following his refusal to play, Cabaye apologized to the fans after receiving disciplinary action from the club. “I understand and I sincerely apologize to the fans if they were, or are, upset with me for what transpired,” Cabaye said. “After everything that has transpired, I want to return.”
Although he would later play for Newcastle once more, the French midfielder signed a £19 million contract with PSG in January 2014.
