Newcastle United star Alexander Isak was missing from the Magpies’ 4-0 loss to Celtic on Saturday amid speculation he is unsettled and could join Liverpool this summer.
Last week was one Eddie Howe would rather forget. It appears the Magpies have missed out on Burnley’s James Trafford to Manchester City, and they were barely in it as Celtic beat them 4-0 in Glasgow.
While the defeat was one thing, the big story of the weekend was Alexander Isak’s lack of inclusion in the matchday squad. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the 25-year-old over the last couple of weeks, with Isak subject to an informal approach from Liverpool.
Newcastle United have always said the same thing: Isak is not for sale and if he was it would take a fee approaching the world record to get him to leave. At the time, Newcastle said Isak missed Celtic to manage his minutes, but it was later revealed that Howe chose to keep Isak out of the Newcastle squad due to all the speculation around his future.
It leaves their involvement in the rest of pre-season hanging in the balance, but it has been confirmed whether he will be a part of the Magpies’ tour of Asia.
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Alexander Isak will travel to Asia with the Newcastle United squad
Newcastle have a busy pre-season schedule on their hands, with games against Arsenal and Tottenham just two of the six other games they have to play before the start of the 2025/26 season, which includes a return to the Champions League.
The Magpies also have a Sela Cup game against Atletico Madrid at St James’ Park, undoubtedly their biggest pre-season test in recent memory.
Isak is happy at Newcastle and the two parties are expected to begin talks over a new deal later this summer, but his lack of inclusion against Celtic was a clear sign his head is not in the right place because of all the speculation.
Despite that, Howe himself has confirmed Isak will be a part of the squad that travels to Singapore and South Korea later this week. Keith Downie on Sky Sports News relayed his comments from the post-match presser on Saturday, saying: “Eddie says Isak will travel to Singapore for the pre-season tour and that he’s confident he will stay.”
It remains to be seen what their involvement in Sunday’s game against Arsenal will be.
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Newcastle United must put an end to speculation over Alexander Isak’s future
Before the end of the season, we predicted that the future of Isak would be publicised for many to see, and that is exactly what has happened. Newcastle’s star striker is irreplaceable, and it could take years to find a striker with the same characteristics as him.
Newcastle tried to sign Hugo Ekitike, a player who has a similar play-style to Isak, but Liverpool have since stolen a march and have agreed a fee for the Eintracht Frankfurt star.
Many would believe that Liverpool will no longer be interested in Isak now that Ekitike is set to sign, but speculation still surrounds both Isak and Newcastle.
The only people who can put an end to the speculation are Isak and Newcastle. From Isak’s standpoint, he can come out and publicly say he will not be leaving this summer. Meanwhile, Newcastle can finally start contract talks with Isak to tie him down to a longer deal with bigger incentives.
Something needs to be done, or the whole pre-season will be disrupted due to speculation over one player.
