New report suggests 'phenomenal' Newcastle player could leave next year if they fail to qualify for Europe

One of the big issues facing Newcastle United right now is that they have several Champions League-quality players and no Champions League football.

After making their return to the competition last season the players have a taste for it now and it's believed that failing to qualify for Europe for a second season in a row could be disastrous for player retention.

Of course it's slightly hypocritical for the players to demand Champions League or indeed European football to stay at the club when they themselves are the ones who failed to secure it, but unfortunately that's just how the game works.

A new report by Give Me Sport has suggested that a couple of Premier League clubs are banking on Newcastle failing to qualify for Europe to take advantage.

Arsenal and Chelsea believe they will be able to poach Alexander Isak if Newcastle fail to qualify for Europe

The report claims that Alexander Isak will demand to leave Newcastle in the summer if the club fails to qualify for Europe and as such Arsenal and Chelsea are poised and ready to attack if that becomes the case.

However, contrary to these reports, other outlets are suggesting that Alexander Isak will be the next big player to commit his future to Newcastle following from Bruno Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon.

That being said, there have been rumours of talk that the man Pat Nevin hailed as 'phenomenal' wants a release clause in his contract which could be activated if the club fail to qualify for Europe - but there has been nothing concrete to suggest that's the case.

We hope that Alexander Isak sees the reality of the situation and sticks around

Keeping big players like Isak happy was always going to be a struggle for Newcastle as they perhaps brought in such high-quality players in too soon into the project, much like they got to the Champions League too soon. Now the club has made a rod for its own back.

Ideally we'd have slowly built up to this point over a few years rather than exploded to the top and then having to ride the dip back down to perhaps where we should be. But now we've been to the promised land, the expectation is that we get back there.

If PSR wasn't a thing, Newcastle would have had no problem securing the type of player needed to sustain a challenge for the Champions League, but the club has been stifled and now have to try and stay near the top with a squad that simply isn't capable while not being able to spend the amounts of money they need.

Hopefully Alexander Isak can understand that and will be patient for Newcastle to get there naturally. It's inevitable that we will end up there, it's just going to take time, and having our top players leave at the first sign of a bump in the road will only make it take longer.