Newcastle United needed no added motivation for the visit of Liverpool, but the Alexander Isak saga has nevertheless added spice to the occasion.
Arne Slot just wanted to be sure.
"St James' Park, it is, yeah?" the Liverpool manager asked in the lead-up to his side's game against Newcastle United.
Slot will be left in no doubt where he is on Monday night. Geordies will make sure of that.
This is Newcastle's first home game of the campaign. It's a bank holiday. And the champions are coming to town.
But the Alexander Isak saga has added a heap of spice to the occasion as the wantaway striker's suitors rock up on Tyneside.
Eddie Howe needed no reminding of that.
"We have got to concentrate on what we need to do and not get too emotional, but certainly use the energy from the crowd," the Newcastle head coach said. "It's going to be vital for us."
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'Like a game with a historic rival'
Howe was speaking from experience. His team have shown what they can achieve in front of a roaring St James' when their focus is tack sharp.
Newcastle have only lost a dozen top-flight fixtures on home soil since Howe took charge of a side in deep relegation trouble in 2021 and the stadium tends to be at its most febrile when a traditional big hitter pays a visit.
For context, in eight league and cup home games against Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs last season, Newcastle won six, drew two and lost none.
The fan group Wor Flags have helped to set the tone along the way and hope to do so again on Monday.
They have a pre-match display planned, but it has not been easy to put together after Isak made his wish to join Liverpool clear.
Wor Flags volunteer and Newcastle season ticket holder Thomas Concannon said: "We totally recognise the entire situation.
"That's why it's been really difficult as a group to get right because there's a lot of different opinions on this entire situation at the moment, so it's really difficult to get one unified view.
"We think we have got something that hits the right tone. We will be going big as we always do, but with the aim of backing the lads that are on the pitch because that's what is most important.
"It feels absolutely huge. It feels like there is way more riding on it than just three points. It's really strange. It's like Newcastle are going into a game with a historic rival."
Ekitike takes centre stage
What a time this is for Hugo Ekitike to be making his first visit to St James' after Liverpool won the race, ahead of Newcastle, to sign the French forward last month.
Ekitike is a player Howe knows well and, without blinking, he can reel off a concise scouting report: really good movement, intelligent, good in the air, scores goals off both feet. That was the lowdown. That was why Newcastle wanted him.
"There's no doubt I really like Hugo and have done for a number of years," Howe said. "He was someone we tracked for a long time."
That is an understatement.
In fact, Newcastle attempted to sign Ekitike on three separate occasions over a three-and-a-half-year period.
Newcastle made their first move in January, 2022 when Ekitike was not exactly a household name.
But the 23-year-old always had immense potential.
Few know that better than former Brighton manager Oscar Garcia, who worked with Ekitike at Reims at the time.
"You do not find many strikers like him at that age," Garcia recently told Sky Sports. "He is tall, fast, mobile, very good one against one, holds the ball and scores goals. He can fit with teams that play more on the counter-attack, but also with teams with more possession because he has the skill for both styles.
"Hugo knows which aspects he can improve on, but he also needs help to develop his potential to reach the level that all the people who know him believe he can reach."
Newcastle were not alone among Premier League clubs in recognising those qualities, however.
Liverpool had also been tracking Ekitike for some time after the striker rediscovered his spark at Eintracht Frankfurt following a frustrating spell at Paris St-Germain.
Newcastle may have made the opening offer to Eintracht last month, but Ekitike had his sights set on a £69m move to Liverpool after previously speaking to Slot.
It proved a significant moment in the transfer window. In more ways than one.
Isak running out of time
There can be little doubt that this move had a knock-on effect on the Isak saga.
If Newcastle had signed Ekitike, the club would have had a potential successor already in the building and time left to bring in an additional striker to replace Callum Wilson, who left last month.
However, having also subsequently missed out on Benjamin Sesko, who joined Manchester United, Newcastle are facing a race against the clock to recruit even one centre-forward before the close of business on 1 September – let alone two.
No wonder the club do not foresee the "conditions" of Isak's sale being met in the final throes of the window.
And that is before mentioning the prospect of Liverpool making an improved bid for Isak that actually gives Newcastle a decision to make, when the Magpies have held firm to date.
Slot, understandably, would not be drawn on the possibility of Liverpool returning to the table for Isak.
But the Liverpool manager appreciates what lies in wait at St James' - regardless of the backdrop to the game.
Newcastle's victory against Liverpool in last season's Carabao Cup final underlines the size of the visitors' task on Tyneside.
"It's nothing to do with anything that's in the media," Slot said. "If you go to Newcastle, you know what to expect.
"We played them three times last season and their intensity levels were twice above ours. In the away game (a 3-3 draw in December), especially the first 60 minutes, they were so intense. They fully deserved the lead and in the League Cup final they were more intense than us.
"So I don't think they need anything to add if they play at St James' Park."
Category: General Sports
