England’s men’s club season begins with League One and League Two action; Newcastle’s transfer struggles

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💰 Transfer business heating up as Newcastle risk being left behind

We’re now two weeks out from the start of the Premier League season, is panic starting to set in for some of the league’s biggest clubs? You’d be surprised if it wasn’t at Newcastle United, where Alexander Isak‘s willingness to move on threatens to be the cherry on top of the total lack of sundae at St. James’ Park. The Swede is training at his former club Real Sociedad while his leading suitors Liverpool have reportedly seen an opening offer rejected. One suspects that that is not the end of matters.

Perhaps Newcastle might be able to stomach the loss of one of the Premier League’s top strikers if they had a clear path to a primary alternative. That does not look like being the case with Manchester United making eyes at Benjamin Sesko at a time when, as CBS Sports reported on Thursday, they do not have to sell to buy the RB Leipzig striker. Sesko is ready to move on and has dismissed interest from Saudi Arabia to focus on a possible Premier League move. Worst of all for Newcastle, he is said to favor a switch to Old Trafford.

It is not as if Newcastle came into this window with nothing to do before the Isak drama. They needed to at least strengthen their frontline by replacing Callum Wilson and adding wing depth. So far only the latter has been managed with the signing of Anthony Elanga. But as the likes of Bryan Mbeumo and Joao Pedro turn them down, Eddie Howe is forced to make do and mend in attack. His goalkeeper options are being strengthened by a loan deal for Aaron Ramsdale, but the club would have preferred James Trafford. The new right sided center back is also nowhere to be seen as Howe tries to preach patience.

• Howe: “It’s really important we fill those positions as quickly as possible, but also with the best people possible. Again, I would probably urge the club to make the right decision over speed, because the long term is the most important for Newcastle. We are working effectively, albeit in a very different way. We’ve got people who are very actively involved at board level filling those gaps. So I don’t think we’re necessarily harmed by what is going on, it’s just the window and the transfer market itself is the problem, not workings behind the scenes.”

To make Newcastle’s struggles worse, their great rivals have been impressively active in recent days. On Friday morning Sunderland announced the signing of Robin Roefs, the outstanding goalkeeper in the Netherlands last season, a deal that came hot on the heels of Granit Xhaka trading Champions League football with Bayer Leverkusen for the battle against relegation at the Stadium of Light. With two weeks to go it rather seems like almost everyone in the Premier League is getting better except for Newcastle.

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⚪️ Frank makes an impact: There wasn’t too much to glean from Tottenham’s 1-0 win over Arsenal in a preseason friendly but perhaps one facet of Spurs’ game stood out: the danger they posed from dead balls.

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💵 Best bets

• EFL League One
  💰 THE PICK: Wycombe Wanderers to be promoted (+600) — It has been a summer of ambition in Buckinghamshire, where the backing of Georgian billionaire Mikhail Lomtadze has led to nine signings, including former Borussia Dortmund academy player Bradley Fink. At the time of writing the in-demand Richard Kone is also on the Wycombe books as a side who were Wrexham and Birmingham’s nearest rivals for much of last season bid to build on last season’s run to the semifinals of the playoffs.

For more picks, predictions, expert tips and the latest betting news, don’t miss out on CBSSports.com’s betting home page.

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