Yasir Al-Rumayyan was asked if he was sure, if that was really the message he wanted to convey on camera.

There is an army of advisers and intermediaries for the governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

Apparently a few gulped when Al-Rumayyan appeared on an Amazon documentary about Newcastle United in 2023 and said he wanted the club to be “No 1”, knowing the message that would send.

But ultimately he is his own man and that deliberate decision to set those lofty goals should perhaps inform some of the machinations of arguably the most important summer yet under PIF ownership.

Nothing about the approach Newcastle have taken with Alexander Isak is personal or emotional.

Reports have detailed shock, hurt and anger at the Isak soap opera, but

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