Newcastle United may have held firm and rebuffed Liverpool’s laughable £110 million approach for Alexander Isak, but any illusion that this saga ends with a smiling return to the squad should be put to bed now.
Isak may still be a Newcastle player. But he’s not part of the team. Not on the pitch, not in the dressing room, and, crucially, not in Eddie Howe’s thinking for the start of the season.
The signs are everywhere. This week, Isak was asked to stay away from the club’s “friends and family” day, a moment designed to foster unity before the campaign begins, and instead trained alone. A statement move. And on Thursday evening, it was confirmed he won’t play any part in the Sela Cup fixtures against Espanyol and Atlético Madrid. That means that Isak will have had zero pre-season minutes with his teammates. Zero involvement in shape work, pressing drills, or attacking patterns. He is, in every practical sense, sidelined.
“Earn the right to train”
If there was still any doubt about Isak’s status, Eddie Howe’s comments in Seoul made things brutally clear. While praising Anthony Gordon and Will Osula, Howe emphasised: “You have to earn the right to train with the group.”
Not play. Train. The bar has been set at the most basic level of squad inclusion, and Isak is currently beneath it.
This isn’t a disciplinary grey area. This is a deliberate exile. And it’s not just about attitude, it’s about actions.
Earlier in the summer, Isak flew to Spain and trained with his former club Real Sociedad. He did so without permission, and Howe later confirmed he only found out via the media. That detail matters. It’s not just unprofessional, it’s a breach of trust. It undermines the manager, circumvents the club, and makes it very hard for Howe to justify bringing him back into a tight-knit group that’s spent the summer preparing together.
Howe’s authority has been one of the cornerstones of Newcastle’s progress under his leadership. He’s not about to compromise that for a player who went freelance during pre-season.
No chance before the window shuts
Let’s be blunt: there is absolutely no chance Isak features in any of the first three fixtures while the transfer window remains open.
Our season begins with Villa away. Newcastle are still building rhythm and balance, and while pre-season hasn’t seen an obvious Isak CF replacement from within the squad, Gordon’s performance in our last game against Spurs showed enough promise that we could theoretically start the season with him down the middle. Throwing Isak in cold, with no minutes, no tactical work, and no relationship-building on the pitch, would be reckless.
Leeds away? No different. That game will require intensity, match sharpness, and tactical cohesion. Isak has none of those things.
But it’s the Liverpool game that absolutely rules him out, and not just tactically.
Liverpool at home: the flashpoint
It was Liverpool who unsettled Isak. Liverpool who reportedly turned his head. Liverpool who made the offer Newcastle furiously rejected. For weeks, the club, the fans, and the manager have been wrestling with this behind the scenes, on social media, and even with questionably placed bedsheets outside the training ground, and now, with the fixture looming, it’s hard to imagine a more combustible situation.
Imagine the reaction if Isak’s name is read out at St James’ Park while the transfer window is still open. The atmosphere will be febrile. A single misplaced pass will be scrutinised. A lack of effort? Booed. A goal? Which club is he scoring it for?
It’s lose-lose for everyone, except Liverpool, who would be watching from the outside as Newcastle eat themselves from within.
Howe knows this. He’s not naïve. He won’t throw a player into that storm without first ensuring absolute buy-in from the dressing room. And right now, Isak hasn’t even earned the right to train, never mind play.
What next? Wait for the window to close
If there’s to be any sort of reintegration, it begins after the window shuts. Once there’s no chance of a late Liverpool bid, and once the headlines shift, Howe can begin to soften the tone. But even then, it’ll be a process.
Isak has missed the entire tactical build-up. He hasn’t played a single pre-season minute alongside Gordon, Murphy, Barnes or Elanga. The chemistry will need rebuilding. The trust will need earning. The dressing room will need convincing.
That doesn’t happen overnight. More likely, we’ll see him drip-fed back into matchday squads from the bench, potentially during a Carabao Cup tie or a quieter league fixture in mid-September.
Until then, it’s status frozen.
A club-record striker, benched by principle
Make no mistake: this isn’t a footballing decision. Isak is one of the most talented forwards in Europe, and Newcastle are in desperate need of firepower. But Howe is sending a message, not just to Isak, but to the entire squad.
No one is bigger than the club. And if you step outside the group, you don’t just walk back in.
So yes, Isak stays as things stand. But unless something changes behind the scenes, dramatically and quickly, you won’t see him in a black and white shirt until the window slams shut.
And you definitely won’t see him against Liverpool.
