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Thomas Tuchel names his latest England squad on Friday as he narrows down focus on a team that can win the 2026 World Cup next summer.

The 51-year-old has used his early squads to test players and try experiments but intends to have a more solid idea of a starting XI and group of substitutes that will make up the core of his side in the USA by the end of the year.

Here are the key decisions in each area Tuchel has to make.

Goalkeeper

Is it time to take the plunge and make James Trafford England’s No 1?

Trafford performed incredibly as a central figure in a record-breaking Burnley defence in the Championship last season. Schooled by Pep Guardiola as a teenager, he is adept with his feet as he is with his hands.

But though Tuchel liked what he saw at the end of last season, it had been thought that the 2026 World Cup would come too soon for the 22-year-old.

Tuchel stuck, instead, with longstanding first-choice Jordan Pickford in his early camps.

But Trafford’s summer move to Manchester City, where he has started their first two games, changes things. If Guardiola thinks he’s ready to start for his title challengers, who is Tuchel to disagree?

That said, Trafford will still have to overcome a nervy game in the defeat to Tottenham to secure his place for City, while they are reportedly considering a move for Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, which would complicate his situation.

Trafford is far better with his feet, but Pickford vastly more experienced. It will be a pivotal decision.

Defence

England may have kept clean sheets in Tuchel’s first three games, but they have looked distinctly suspect at the back. And as soon as they faced top 20 opposition they conceded three in a surprise defeat to Senegal in their last match.

In his four games, Tuchel has trialled the following formations: 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1 twice and a 4-3-3 that switched to 3-4-3 in possession. He needs versatile defenders, able to switch naturally from a four to a three, or join the midfield.

On the right side, Kyle Walker, one of England’s great full-backs, looked off the pace against Senegal, but Tuchel came out in his defence after the game. Walker has, in the past, had the advantage of being able to operate well in a back four or three – but his best days might be behind him.

Reece James, a Tuchel favourite from his Chelsea days, has always been earmarked as England’s next right-sided defender, but has failed to stay injury-free for years. And what does that mean for Trent Alexander-Arnold, now at Real Madrid but still, possibly, the best English striker of the ball since David Beckham struggling to find a starting spot?

Myles Lewis-Skelly appears set for the left of defence, either as left-back or left-wing-back, with versatility to attack down the wing or invert as a central midfielder. Tuchel has weighed up whether to protect the 18-year-old, but does not believe he requires it.

But who are the centre-backs? Dan Burn, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi, Levi Colwill – who is out for a prolonged period – and Trevoh Chalobah have all been given a go. Konsa impressed the most. Guehi missed the last camp injured.

Tuchel has Harry Maguire and John Stones to fall back on, but they are stalwarts from the Gareth Southgate era who feel like the dying embers of an old regime.

Midfield

Declan Rice is pretty much the only certain thing about England’s midfield. Tuchel really has to start Jude Bellingham – possibly one of the most gifted players the country has produced – but where?

As a No 10, where he prefers? England aren’t short of options there. As a marauding Eight, slightly further back? But does that then blunt his attacking edges?

Tuchel loves Eberechi Eze – frequently referring to him as “Ebs” – who since moving from Crystal Palace to Arsenal has a real chance to prove his status as a world-leading player. But he is most effective behind the striker — Tuchel even played him as a second striker in a 4-4-2 at the start of the Senegal game, although, given how it went, that experiment will likely be shelved.

There is plenty of overlap between midfield and attack, because Cole Palmer and Phil Foden would also fancy themselves as the 10, and both offer their own unique skillsets.

And not forgetting Morgan Rogers, who has impressed Tuchel in central midfield.

Or Jordan Henderson, who, for some reason, the German seems intent on selecting, if only to troll the nation.

Attack

Many felt that Harry Kane was the sticking point for all England’s attacking at Euro 2024. But, equally, England’s record scorer wasn’t fully fit throughout the tournament. And England did reach the final.

Since then, Kane, 32, moved to Bayern Munich and keeps scoring prolifically (four goals in two games this season at time of writing) and in stepped an England manager who signed him for the Bundesliga side and has, at least so far, been fully behind the country’s captain.

You’d expect to see at least one more major tournament with Kane leading the attack.

That leaves the spaces on the wings. If he can stay fit, you’d hope the right would go to Bukayo Saka.

The left?

A queue of players would take it, including Eze, Foden, Palmer, and Anthony Gordon, who showed with his sending off for two yellow cards against Liverpool that he is increasingly hard to trust (Southgate was unimpressed when Gordon fell off his bike during what was supposed to be a gentle cycle ride in Germany during Euro 2024).

And you can’t discount Marcus Rashford playing his way back into the fold at Barcelona.

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It comes to them all eventually. At Molineux, a stadium half-full but packed with unexpected cheer, Graham Potter stood on the touchline, motionless and disbelieving. He had the mid-distance stare of a manager desperately trying to remember when he was last happy in this position. “Before West Ham,” is the usual answer.

The EFL Cup had, with a degree of cruelty, pitched together two point-less Premier League clubs. As West Ham took a 2-1 lead, travelling hordes crowed at their team’s usual ineptitude: “How shit must you be, we’re winning away?”.

They knew. West Ham, a team simultaneously full of international experience yet with a chronic absence of leadership, crumpled again. At full-time, Jarrod Bowen – the only pure exception to the misery – was held back by teammates from crossing the advertising boards to argue with a supporter.

At this point you do have to remind yourself that we are still in August and two games into a new league season. The great West Ham lament – it comes around earlier every year.

Potter will get some or all of the blame from many. He will leave this job soon or sooner, if results don’t improve quickly, which at full-time on Tuesday felt like it would be an act of mercy. 

Then West Ham will face an inglorious decision: appoint the firefighter nobody wants to stave off early season relegation fears (Sean Dyche, anyone?) or risk things getting even worse but at least try to provide a little entertainment or fun. Again, it is August. These are not the choices anybody should be making while the kids are still off school. 

Potter is clearly not without guilt; his record as manager here is worse than Julen Lopetegui’s, itself once a yardstick for nadir. West Ham don’t defend properly, don’t create enough chances and don’t take enough of the ones that they do create. They concede goals in clusters and open up opposition teams by infrequent appointment only.

More immediately, the answer will be to spend some money this week, provoked not by long-term planning but through being spooked by underperformance and an appalling mood amongst supporters.

But then money has always been spent. Parsimony is someone else’s gripe. Since June 2022, West Ham have spent £450m on transfer fees and sold only Declan Rice and Mohammed Kudus for significant fees (or at least more than they paid). The three central defenders in the team that conceded eight times against Sunderland and Chelsea cost more than £100m between them.

That misses the point. What defines your transfer market success is not what you spend, but how you build a squad in spending it. Few have done it more illogically than West Ham, not least because four different managers have done it.

There is no line-breaking pace other than Bowen. There is no creativity other than Lucas Paqueta. They loaned James Ward-Prowse to Nottingham Forest because he wasn’t close to the first team and a year later he is starting here. They have one potentially-useful-but-also-32-and-injury-prone striker in Nicklas Fullkrug and signed Callum Wilson, who is different to Fullkrug in that he is 33.

This summer, West Ham lost eight players from their first-team squad on free or loan deals who played a combined 111 league games last season. No money generated other than wages saved that nobody trusts to be wisely spent elsewhere. Even then, the best argument for keeping any of them was simply as bodies to fill a place in the squad.

To which we have to add: the worst stadium vibes in the Premier League. If the actual football isn’t doing enough to create an atmosphere conducive to a positive experience, sitting half a mile from the pitch doubles down that same mood. West Ham left one of the closest, earthiest atmospheres in English football for a football dystopia, like if you asked someone in 1995 to draw their nightmare vision of what the live football experience would look like in 30 years’ time. They have not won at home since February; nine years on they still lose out a little every time they play there.

Were we having this discussion 15 years ago (NB – people were definitely having this discussion 15 years ago), there would be a little kickback when sympathising with West Ham fans. The accusation was one of entitlement, of demanding good football and good results, an implied arrogance that they were somebodies rather than anybodies. The same fumes still linger in the air every time a manager loses his job.

It’s almost all nonsense nowadays. Football supporters are quick to hope and quicker to seek reasons for hoping. If entitlement is wanting your club to function coherently while ticket prices rise to fund vast spending on disparate parts that never seem to create an actual team, long live entitlement. It’s not too much to ask and questioning when none of it happens does not equal a tantrum.

Nor should we fall into the trap of mythologising the mess. It isn’t true that there is some innate West Ham-ness that fuels anything at all. No club is predisposed particularly towards or against any behavioural pattern or destiny. It is simply the result of its own myriad decisions and the only definitive example can be set from its leaders. Fish and football clubs rot from the head down.

Running a functioning football club is a bit like gardening. You can clear out the place and spend as much as you want on expensive plants and landscaping. But if you fail to feed, water and nurture, the whole thing is still going to be entirely overgrown with weeds within a year or two, requiring almost as much money (plus extra care and attention) as at the start.

This is still the house that David Sullivan built and continues to govern. If there are lurches of managerial ethos, from Allardyce to Bilic to Moyes to Pellegrini to Moyes (again) to Lopetegui, they are on his watch. If supporters don’t trust the people buying the players, let alone the players they are buying, that is on him too.

It’s not that West Ham’s vision is broken, although it might be. It’s that nobody really knows what the vision is or how the club hopes to achieve it because it either changes so often or is so blurred as to be invisible.

You might hear buzzphrases and calls-to-arms at the appointment of every manager or when it comes round to season ticket renewal time. But well-meaning words followed by uncompelling actions usually provokes only dispiriting self-fulfillment.

West Ham might want to maximise the academy, but fans are sick of hearing about potential that never gets a proper chance in the first team. West Ham might want a British core or to recruit from Europe – they currently have an unconvincing combination of both. Are they a counter-attacking team or one that plays out slowly? Are they ever going to try some dynamism in midfield to replace Rice’s example? 

Underpinning it all was this apparent misconception that their now nine-year-old home would unlock some great secret for West Ham, as if such a thing ever exists. The London Stadium was a new idyll, a low-cost, high-value solution to create great revenue and growth. Ultimately it’s just bad football in an athletics stadium where nobody seems to be enjoying themselves.

The great damnation is the obvious potential here: a top-flight team in London with a large fanbase who won a European trophy two-and-a-half years ago. You actually have to work quite hard to extinguish all of that goodwill so quickly. West Ham have managed to do so at least twice since.

I don’t have the answers, supporters don’t have the answers and I don’t see much proof that West Ham have the answers either. It presents a football club as an entirely accidental construct, where occasional success happens via the law of averages and failure happens more often because other clubs are infinitely more smart. The response to errors is to rip things up, let someone else have a go, talk up that one individual as the key to unlocking the future and then make the same mistakes all over again.

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Grimsby 2-2 Man Utd (Grimsby win 12-11 on penalties) (Vernam 22′, Warren 30′ | Mbeumo 75′, Maguire 89′)

BLUNDELL PARK — Big fish do famously get battered in Grimsby. But nothing plucked from the North Sea has ever been treated to this kind of humiliation.

It was the most Manchester United end to the most absurd evening. By the end of the contest that United somehow fluked their way to get to a penalty shootout, Ruben Amorim’s new £200m strikeforce was out there, supported by skipper Bruno Fernandes, Mason Mount, Kobbie Mainoo and Joshua Zirkzee.

And they still required a Harry Maguire’s large cranium to avoid a humiliating defeat of epic proportions. 

Saved their skin. Or so they thought. Just merely a stay of execution, as Bryan Mbeumo’s penalty miss in sudden death ensured one of the all-time cup sporting upsets got its euphoric ending.

GRIMSBY TOWN HAVE BEATEN MANCHESTER UNITED!

12- 11 ON PENALTIES! #ITVFootball | #MUFC | #GTFC | #CarabaoCup | @officialgtfc pic.twitter.com/DSB96oWMvk

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) August 27, 2025

Four hundred million pounds, 711 Premier League appearances between them. And that’s just the starting XI. This would not have been your bog-standard cup giantkilling, when a plucky minnow overcomes an elite top-flight side who have rested their 11 best players.

Grimsby Town, three divisions below, played the might of Manchester United – one of the biggest clubs in the world – off the park. They did not weather an almighty westerly storm. Their goalkeeper did not have to have the game of his life. They deserved their place in the history books.

Even after a shootout success, this was Buster Douglas knocking Mike Tyson out twice. Ben Curtis winning The Open by 10 shots. The Miracle on Ice, but the Americans didn’t have skates on.

Even after sneaking back into the game to get to the shootout, United failed to avoid yet another humbling. Never mind getting sacked in the morning, Ruben Amorim must be considering walking after this. How much more can one man take?

Just when you thought Manchester United had plummeted to unimaginable depths, they remain the gift that keeps on giving.

There were eyebrows raised in the crowd when United’s line-up was read out. Bruno Fernandes had been given a rest, but rarely had a Premier League side named a more star-studded side in the second round of this competition.

You couldn’t tell as the match got underway. United were second to everything. Grimsby’s opener, Charles Vernam’s strike that snuck inside Andre Onana’s post shook Blundell Park, packed to the rafters, right down to the foundations.

If Onana did not cover himself in glory for the opener, his efforts in attempting to punch a short corner clear will have Royal Antwerp’s eyes lighting up as they head into further negotiations over Senne Lammens this week.

“We pissed on your face” came the chant from the terraces. It really was at masochistic levels of humiliation – and it could have been worse if Cameron Gardner’s goal, which would have made it 3-0, hadn’t been controversially disallowed for offside. There is of course no VAR at this stage of this competition.

Ruben Amorim has cut a forlorn figure for the majority of his tenure to date, but rarely has he looked as visibly angry as when the Tyrell Warren’s second hit the back of the net. He cannot, 10 months into life as United boss, have ever believed it could get this bad.

GRIMSBY TOWN TAKE THE LEAD AGAINST MANCHESTER UNITED!!!

You can't say it hasn't been coming!#ITVFootball | #MUFC | #GTFC | #CarabaoCup | @officialgtfc pic.twitter.com/nyRGMSPMO1

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) August 27, 2025

GRIMSBY HAVE ANOTHER!

Absolute bedlam at Blundell Park! #ITVFootball | #MUFC | #GTFC | #CarabaoCup | @officialgtfc pic.twitter.com/kZrlapfxMz

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) August 27, 2025

It was party time Mariner style. “We only sing when we’re fishing,” greeted the half time whistle. United were taking the bait every time.

The heavens opened after the break as Amorim brought Fernandes and Mbeumo on. Postponement would have been the beleaguered boss’s preference at this point.

The hosts of course tired, with Mbeumo stroking home a fine finish with 15 minutes left, before Maguire stooped to break home hearts at the death.

Fear not, Mariners. Matheus Cunha had this chance to win it in the shootout, but saw his poor spot kick saved. So we went round again, both goalkeepers scored, before Mbeumo fluffed his lines, and the entire town of Cleethorpes hurdled the adverting hoardings after a 12-11 scoreline.

A first clash with Manchester United in 77 years will be talked about for even longer around these parts.

Carabao Cup results elsewhere

Second round

• Fulham 2-0 Bristol City
• Oxford United 0-6 Brighton & Hove Albion
• Everton 2-0 Mansfield Town

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Newcastle United remain braced for a second bid for Alexander Isak as the transfer saga of the summer is now set to go down to the wire before Monday’s transfer deadline.

Liverpool sources insist an improved offer is not imminent after there had been suggestions in recruitment circles on Wednesday that a long-trailed follow-up bid was in the works.

That would unlock several stalling striker transfers across the Premier League and Europe.

The Reds feel a second bid is only worth tabling if there is a route to it being successful – that stance has not changed since early August. Liverpool believed their first bid of £110m represented market value but was robustly rejected by Newcastle.

That was where dialogue between the clubs ended, with no official valuation quoted despite the widespread understanding that the Magpies see him in the £150m bracket.

With Isak refusing to play to force a move and not relenting on that position despite fresh talks with the Newcastle hierarchy on Monday, there’s now a real prospect of the saga going into the final 24 hours of the transfer window – which closes at 7pm on Monday. Eddie Howe has said he hopes for more “clarity” on the situation soon.

Newcastle plan third Strand Larsen bid

The club is now scrambling for striker alternatives themselves.

“This was always going to happen because the striker deals always happen last,” one top flight recruitment executive told The i Paper on Wednesday.

“A lot of clubs are waiting. Isak, [Jorgen] Strand Larsen, Dusan Vlahovic – all of those deals are locked at the moment. But when one falls the other might follow quickly.”

Newcastle’s current focus is on incomings and a third offer for Wolves’ Jorgen Strand Larsen is anticipated in the next 24 hours, with sources indicating the striker is keen on the move and that initial talks had been “positive”.

Wolves’ position is that the forward is not for sale at any price. But a third offer would indicate there remains hope of a deal being struck, even in time for the Norway international to feature at Leeds on Saturday.

There have been suggestions that Newcastle might return to some of their previous targets, with Chelsea now open to a loan move for Nicolas Jackson.

But The i Paper has been told that at this stage, a move for Yoane Wissa remains – unlikely, with Brentford’s emphatic not-for-sale stance “unchanged” since Newcastle’s last offer.

That bid consisted of £35m plus add-ons that would have been difficult to achieve and was rejected last week. Brentford now regard it as too late in the transfer window to source adequate replacements for a forward who scored 19 times in the league last term.

It leaves Newcastle’s recruitment team in another difficult position, forced to either pay a significant premium for their targets or face the potential prospect of four months of football without a senior, recognised striker.

The 25-year-old is understood to be highly rated by Howe but a third bid of £60m for Strand Larsen might constitute Newcastle overpaying, even if the deal has the full backing of the St James’ Park hierarchy, given their short-term need.

Data-driven football analysts Sci Sports, who work with a number of top-flight clubs in England and overseas, have developed a rigorous methodology for valued players that is used by professional teams. They rate Strand Larsen at just £26.7m.

Wissa, given he has a year left on his contract, is rated at £22.4m while Isak – for reference’s sake – is valued at £100.1m. At this stage in the summer it is almost inevitable that leaving it so late is a costly business, but multiple high-profile deals still remain in the mix.

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It was only an everyday photograph to the non-Manchester United-supporting world.

To those inside Old Trafford in early February last year, it represented a long-overdue beacon of hope as three fledgling faces beamed from the advertising hoardings, surveying the kingdom they were readying to conquer.

A modern-day United Trinity for the digital age. Like Denis Law, Bobby Charlton and George Best, immortalised in bronze outside Old Trafford, Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund looked at home by each other’s side, relaxed enough not to be overawed by the enormity of what lay ahead.

Even though the image of brotherhood and unbridled joy in a 3-0 victory over West Ham was over 18 months ago, that day is as good as it got for all three.

It is not out of the realm of possibility that all three could be playing elsewhere come this time next week.

From Alexander the Great levels of conquest potential, Mainoo, Garnacho and Hojlund are likely, the latter two especially, to just be remembered among the litany of names who tried and failed, for a longer period than anyone could have previously imagined, to restore a faded force to its former glories.

It became all too much for Hojlund in the end. When he was signed, for a surprisingly high fee, he penned a contract on the promise that he could be slowly embedded into the team.

Sold a very different United in the brochure, Hojlund soon found himself at the forefront of a strikeforce that created very little, and was forced to play three times a week due to poor recruitment.

The writing was on the wall for Hojlund from the off. After zero goal contributions in his first 14 Premier League appearances, the Dane’s superb shimmy and arrowing strike to open the scoring against West Ham saw him become the youngest United player to score in four consecutive games in the competition.

Hojlund netted in two more matches that immediately followed, but went on drought after drought, just as he had done in his first few months at the club.

Confidence is everything for strikers, and as the goals dried up, supporters started to get on his back.

He was stoic in the media and appeared to be determined to make amends. On the pitch, there was little evidence of such. A striker who doesn’t score goals is no use to anyone.

A move to Napoli on an initial season-long loan awaits. His reputation in Italy still stands from his Atalanta days.

Hojlund does not want to completely give up on his United dream yet, but after Ruben Amorim spent around £200m on a new strikeforce this summer, it appears to be a long road back.

Garnacho had been the perennial frustrater. Incredible endeavour and skill were prevalent every week, but the end product was lacking.

Two goals against the Hammers suggested he had found that missing piece to the puzzle.

Clutch moments kept masking long periods of indifferent form in the months that followed, leading to off-field issues presenting themselves.

Doubts persisted over those closest to him, with his brother, Roberto, seen to be a bad influence.

Garnacho’s own conduct on social media – anti-Erik ten Hag posts he liked for example – did not go unnoticed.

He got off to a bad start with Amorim, too. He was left out of the United squad for the Manchester derby last December, with Amorim citing issues over his conduct and behaviour.

The pair patched things up, with the Argentine one of the better performers in a season to forget last term.

Temperamental issues again came to the fore however as he publicly voiced his anger at being left out of the starting XI for the Europa League final in May.

Amorim was done, telling Garnacho to find a new club. Chelsea is the switch he wants, and if the clubs can find a compromise on the fee – the only sticking point – another wasted talent will burst through Old Trafford exits never to return.

Supporters won’t be protesting too much about those departures. Mainoo’s fall from favour, however, has been the root cause of a growing number of insomniacs being discovered around Greater Manchester.

His effervescent showing against West Ham, where he controlled the tempo of the match to his own beat, belying his lack of experience, came on the back of a wondrous stoppage-time winner at Wolves that had United’s own coaching staff open-mouthed in disbelief.

This was a different calibre of talent, one capable of building a team around. His fine goal against Manchester City in that season’s FA Cup final only intensified that belief.

His fall from grace is more complex and far less fathomable considering the heights he had already reached.

Amorim is still not overly convinced. He initially had doubts over the 20-year-old’s running ability, but Mainoo’s work over the summer impressed his manager.

The problem Mainoo now has is that Amorim is fiercely wedded to his 3-4-3 system, the Portuguese is not for turning.

Mainoo therefore would have to slot into a midfield two. He has been tried as a false nine and a wide forward, but Amorim has plenty of other options in such areas.

The Manchester-born metronome has too much ball-playing ability to be restricted in the anchor role, therefore leaving him suitable for one position – captain Bruno Fernandes’ role.

Usurping the only successful signing of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson decade-plus spell of decay is far from ideal. Thus, in Amorim’s eyes, Mainoo is expendable.

An academy graduate represents 100 per cent profit on the balance sheet – a useful thing in the Profitability and Sustainability world.

The player is understood to be open to a move away from his boyhood club, but given the price that United would command, a departure this week is unlikely.

A summer exit, however, cannot be ruled out. It would cause uproar, but United supporters are slowly getting used to being disappointed at every turn.

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Silly season is almost over, with the Premier League’s transfer window finally slamming shut on Monday 1 September at 7pm.

The 20 top-flight clubs have splashed over £2bn on summer signings, and the spending is set to continue right up until the deadline, with various deals yet to be tied up.

Numerous players are in a state of limbo – either self-imposed or enforced by their clubs – and will hope for a swift resolution with the clock ticking.

Some will be getting especially twitchy, given this is a World Cup year.

There are so many big names still awaiting moves that you could assemble a pretty strong (if ludicrously top-heavy) team of them.

Goalkeeper: Ederson (Man City)

Manchester City have already bought one goalkeeper in James Trafford and could get another one with Paris Saint-Germain outcast Gianluigi Donnarumma heavily linked.

Should Donnarumma sign on the dotted line, it would surely spell the end for Ederson, who is too good to be twiddling his thumbs.

Where could he go? Galatasaray appears to be the likeliest destination.

Right-back: Ben Chilwell (Chelsea)

Various left-backs have been lobbed onto the scrapheap pile, but there aren’t many right-backs angling for a transfer. Hence, Chilwell’s inclusion on his wrong side.

The England international has played just once for Chelsea since the start of last season, as a substitute in a 5-0 win over Barrow in the Carabao Cup. He finished the 2024-25 campaign on loan at Crystal Palace.

Where could he go? Another loan seems likely. Everton could be a good fit given Vitalii Mykolenko’s limitations going forward.

Centre-back: Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace)

Oliver Glasner is understandably desperate for him to stay; Steve Parish is understandably desperate for him to go. Guehi’s situation is causing friction in south London.

Despite winning the FA Cup and securing European football, Glasner’s squad is weaker compared to last season.

Losing Guehi would be a huge blow, but Palace face the prospect of him leaving for free next year if they don’t sell now.

Where could he go? Ibrahima Konate’s “Bambi on ice” act in Liverpool’s opening two games may persuade Fenway Sports Group to go back in for Guehi.

Centre-back: Manuel Akanji (Man City)

Akanji is fourth choice at best at the heart of City’s defence, with vice-captain Ruben Dias, fit-again John Stones, and currently sidelined Josko Gvardiol all ahead of him in Pep Guardiola’s pecking order.

Where could he go? Crystal Palace, if Guehi goes. Galatasaray if not.

Left-back: Oleksandr Zinchenko (Arsenal)

Integral in his first season, but less influential since. Mikel Arteta prefers Riccardo Calafiori, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Jurrien Timber to Zinchenko, whose status would be further diminished if Piero Hincapie joins from Bayer Leverkusen.

Where could he go? The Turkish Super League looks an obvious landing spot. Fenerbahce, perhaps.

Centre-midfield: Yves Bissouma (Tottenham)

Missed the Super Cup due to a lax attitude to time-keeping. It seems to be one infraction too many from Bissouma, who has frustrated a succession of Tottenham Hotspur managers. Joao Palhinha’s arrival has made him surplus to requirements.

Where could he go? West Ham desperately need some dynamism in midfield, and at 28, Bissouma still has the legs to get around the pitch.

Right wing: Raheem Sterling (Chelsea)

Sterling is a four-time Premier League winner, an 82-cap England international and still only 30. And yet, his name has barely cropped up in the transfer rumour mill. It is all a bit sad really.

Where could he go? His “Big Six” days are over after a disappointing spell with Chelsea and a calamitous loan at Arsenal.

Fulham need wingers after losing Willian and Reiss Nelson. A loan could suit all parties.

Left wing: Jadon Sancho (Man Utd)

Manchester United will have to take a huge hit on a player they bought for £73m four years ago. Chelsea paid £5m to avoid buying him after a loan spell, while The i Paper reported that Sancho turned down a £20m switch to Roma.

The sooner he leaves Old Trafford, the better.

Where could he go? Borussia Dortmund (again, again).

Striker: Nicolas Jackson (Chelsea)

Chelsea’s undisputed first-choice striker over the past two seasons has slipped down the food chain following the arrivals of Joao Pedro and Liam Delap.

He is a frustrating finisher, sure, and has developed a worrying habit of getting himself sent off recently, but surely the Senegal international would be a good pick-up for somebody?

Where could he go? Aston Villa are sniffing around, with Unai Emery apparently a fan, but don’t rule out Newcastle if a certain Swede gets his wish.

Striker: Alexander Isak (Newcastle)

Obviously, the player who has defined this transfer window more than any other, despite not even going anywhere (yet), is included. Hell, give him the captain’s armband too.

Isak’s temper tantrums have not had the desired effect so far, but now that Newcastle and Liverpool’s fixture is out of the way, perhaps there will be some movement.

Whatever happens, there will be a resolution to the saga of the summer one way or another.

Where could he go? Liverpool, obviously.

Striker: Rasmus Hojlund (Man Utd)

Unsurprisingly, the inexperienced Hojlund struggled to match expectations in Manchester, so what did United do? Spend another seventy-odd million on another raw centre-forward in Benjamin Sesko. The definition of insanity is…

The Dane doesn’t seem particularly desperate to leave, and a loan back to Serie A looks a smart short-term solution.

Where could he go? Napoli need a striker with Romelu Lukaku out for three or four months with a thigh injury, and Antonio Conte loves shopping for Premier League players.

The i Paper’s limbo XI

4-3-3: Ederson (Man City), Chilwell (Chelsea), Guehi (Palace), Akanji (Man City), Zinchenko (Arsenal), Sterling (Chelsea), Bissouma (Tottenham), Sancho (Man Utd), Jackson (Chelsea), Isak (Newcastle), Hojlund (Man Utd)

Subs: Malacia (Man Utd), Antony (Man Utd), Garnacho (Man Utd), Nkunku (Chelsea), Wissa (Brentford)

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So what now for Newcastle United?

After Monday’s epic defeat to Liverpool, it is not stretching credibility to say the next seven days are some of the most important of the new era.

Here is why it feels as if something big is stirring at St James’ Park.

1. Isak uncertainty is now damaging Newcastle

So could the deal of the decade still happen? You learn to never say never.

A high-profile Premier League executive once sketched out the final seven days of a typical summer transfer window as tracking the following pattern: quiet leading into the weekend games, get them out of the way and then – in his words – “All hell breaks loose”.

The bit we are in now, just out of matchweek two, with teams starting to fret a bit or bask in the afterglow of the opening fixtures, was “like the eye of the storm”.

"With all the injuries – make him stay!"

Thierry Henry thinks Newcastle's injuries suffered tonight might change the Magpies approach to the Alexander Isak debacle… pic.twitter.com/Hxb3DkI9qn

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 25, 2025

Bitter experience tells us anything is possible. On an old phone tossed away in a drawer somewhere, I still have the apologetic text message from a club press officer who had assured me – in the strongest terms and with a message sanctioned from the office of Mike Ashley – that Andy Carroll would not be sold to Liverpool.

The “Hands Off” back page of The Sunday Sun, the local title I was working for at the time, aged pretty quickly when the Reds made Newcastle an offer they felt they literally couldn’t refuse.

The game was up when a pre-match press conference was canned on Monday morning.

By the time Ashley’s helicopter had touched down to take Carroll – he claims reluctantly – to Anfield, the black and white world looked very different.

It is through this lens that we are now viewing the Alexander Isak saga. We are past the point that a sensible agreement can be reached – one where Newcastle climb down from £150m to something that Liverpool consider realistic and the Magpies are able to reinvest in a couple of new franchise players, diligently sourced to take them forward and into “Hail Mary” territory.

In the context of what is at stake – in terms of this season, Newcastle’s long-anticipated big sale and the financial opportunity to rebuild that ushers in, and their reputation in the game – it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever to sell, even if Isak’s intransigence remains.

Chuck in the optics of chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan being in town (how Ashley-esque and untypical of his visits it would be for the PIF governor to jet in, sanction a sale and then head back to Riyadh) and it feels barely credible that Newcastle would countenance a sale without a pretty spectacular rabbit to pull out of the hat by way of a riposte.

With apologies to Jorgen Strand Larsen, a fine player and someone whose acquisition would absolutely improve Newcastle, the Wolves man doesn’t feel like that.

And neither does Yoane Wissa, another excellent goalscorer who remains on Newcastle’s radar despite Brentford’s long-chronicled resistance to selling him.

An Isak sale now, a few days after Liverpool fans turned up at St James’ Park and called on Newcastle to “hand him over”, would send the sort of message that would require the mother of PR clean-ups in its aftermath.

This would be Kevin Keegan, out on the steps of St James’ Park explaining the sale of Andy Cole and multiplying it by a factor of 10.

It doesn’t feel like there is a decent route out of this saga for Newcastle that involves them selling, even allowing for Isak’s stubbornness.

2. ‘Big announcement’ feel as Reuben makes his play

The press box hummed with intrigue on Monday night. There is a feeling that developments are imminent – and soon. Could a big announcement of some flavour be around the corner?

News that Jamie Reuben and a delegation from PIF, much more hands-on of late, visited Isak’s house on Monday afternoon suggests that a final call is being expedited.

"I think the story should be about Hugo Ekitike"

Arne Slot responds to questions around Alexander Isak's future. pic.twitter.com/0x2vPKj2mt

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 25, 2025

The not-for-sale stance seems to have hardened over the last seven days, but it seems inconceivable that Liverpool have given up after just one bid of £110m, a fee they must have known Newcastle wouldn’t accept.

Given the size of the deal – both financially and in terms of importance for both clubs – it won’t go down to the wire. Things will surely accelerate in the coming hours.

3. Strand Larsen confidence

The mood music feels more positive on Wolves striker Strand Larsen, pitched strictly as a replacement for Callum Wilson and not someone who would unlock an Isak deal.

A first bid of £50m was rejected. Go higher – and it seems Newcastle will – and the feeling is that the positive nature of the initial talks will allow them to get something done.

The reason is they are probably overpaying by a shade. But circumstances and the dwindling list of available targets mean they have to.

4. Al-Rumayyan is in town

The PIF governor’s visits are rare but usually significant.

The fund might control much bigger assets than Newcastle, but they are fully aware of how much their investment in the Magpies moulds public perception.

At such a crucial point in the transfer window – and with Newcastle feeling rudderless without a chief executive or director of football – it feels as if his visit is tied up with some big calls.

Aware that PIF’s layers of governance and committees sometimes slow down decision-making, Al-Rumayyan’s presence on Tyneside will allow for some much-needed dynamism.

5. Eddie Howe needs help

Newcastle’s manager looked shattered at the conclusion of Monday night’s epic.

As well he might: the Magpies have delivered two of their best team performances of the year and have just a point to show for it.

Whereas last season Newcastle looked flat but were picking up points in the early weeks, now they look galvanised but are unable to convert that unity into wins.

Howe has been so very impressive in his handling of the Isak situation and the way his team have played in the Premier League’s first two games.

There is, insiders suggest, a desire to “repay” him for his adept management.

6. Ambition still burns

Liverpool fans, rubbernecking on black and white transfer business due to their interest in Isak, are incredulous that Newcastle are looking to replace Wilson by spending upwards of £30m. The former No 9’s impact last term was, after all, minimal.

But Newcastle’s aspiration is to be elite and you don’t get there by treading water.

Insiders say the idea was always to have two players who can shoulder the goalscoring burden alongside Monday night’s cameo star William Osula.

They need cover, competition and options, especially with a Champions League campaign on the horizon.

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