Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe is ‘nervous’ about losing star striker Alexander Isak in upcoming transfer windows.
That’s according to pundit Tony Cascarino, who isn’t buying the confident facade the Magpies manager is trying to put forward.
£12-15m star “would love Newcastle” to try again to get transfer deal done!
Isak has been hot property for some time now but his value will only increase after he netted a hat-trick in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Ipswich Town.
PSG and Arsenal have been most heavily linked with Isak recently, with Newcastle even understood to already been looking at potential replacements — such as Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyokeres.
But when asked about the Sweden international’s future following Saturday’s win at Portman Road, a defiant Howe insisted Isak remains part of Newcastle’s ‘long-term plans’.
“We absolutely want to keep Alex at the football club,” Howe said.
“There’s no part of me, or anybody at Newcastle, that wants to let Alex go. He’s very much part of our long-term plans. Personally, I don’t see that being an issue.
“I don’t think necessarily at this stage that we have to (motivate him to stay).
“He is motivated and he wants to do well. He has big aspirations for his career. He is still relatively young and still has a bright future ahead of him.
“I know his desire to score goals is second to none. Every conversation I had about Newcastle concerning his future with him has been very positive.
“I would love for him, and other players, to be the man who contributes to us winning a trophy. That is the aim.”
Eddie Howe nervous about Alexander Isak offers?
Alexander Isak in action for Newcastle United
Alexander Isak in action for Newcastle United (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Cascarino isn’t convinced by Howe, who he believes is showing signs of nerves about trying to keep his prolific striker out of the clutches of bigger clubs.
“It’s quite clear, Eddie Howe is nervous,” Cascarino told talkSPORT.
“You know, ‘We can’t do much business, it’s important we keep the best players we can,’ and I totally get that by Eddie. He’s got a challenge, he’s going to have to fight off a number of clubs and whether they make a bid in excess of £100m, if that happens…
“One thing in the paper that Eddie quotes as well, because this says a lot, he said he’s also very popular in the dressing room with the Newcastle lads.
“He spoke about not only his goalscoring but he actually said he’s very popular there as well, so he would be a huge loss.”