When Arsenal sold Issac Hayden to Newcastle United, the fee was reported as ‘undisclosed’ by all involved – a standard statement from Arsenal who never mention anything as ‘filthy’ as money when they announce deals.
According to ESPN, the fee received was £2.5m and we can speculate with confidence that the contract will also contain a substantial sell-on fee should Hayden shine and get a big-money move from the Magpies.
Hayden is a talented midfielder and that is not beyond the realms of possibility. You could sense he would have liked to have remained at the club but the sheer number of midfielders at Arsenal in the pecking order ahead of him meant that his best chance of playing regularly at a top club was to move this summer.
There is unlikely to be a buy-back clause in the contract although you never know. It does not seem common for Arsenal to include them but they did so recently with Carlos Vela (although that might have just been the only one that was reported).
The 21-year-old played 77 minutes of Newcastle’s first game of the season against Fulham, which they lost 1-0, on Friday night.
He got a rating of 6.98 for his performance from Whoscored, with three tackles, three interceptions, and one clearance, completing 86.4% of his passes and playing four long balls.