Alexander Isak's form should send a message to other petulant Premier League players
Between them, Alexander Isak and Yoane Wissa had scored seven Premier League goals by the end of October last season.
This year? Not a single top-flight goal, and both are currently on the injured list.
Wissa has not kicked a ball for Newcastle United and Isak’s contributions for Liverpool have been anonymous. On Wednesday in Frankfurt he was substituted at half-time with a groin injury – which should raise alarm bells, given that is the issue which often limited his contributions for Newcastle.
There is a lesson here and it is one that is probably good for football. Isak and Wissa went on wildcat strikes in the summer that worried people in recruitment circles to the extent that some were advocating for the Premier League to take action.
A sliding scale of punishments for the number of matches that they ruled themselves out of was even mentioned by one director of football that I spoke to
in September.
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 01: Yoane Wissa poses for photographs holding a home shirt at the Newcastle United Training Centre after signing for the club on September 01, 2025 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
Wissa’s antics also caused major problems at Brentford (Photo: Getty)
As it turns out, Isak’s current predicament might just have pre-empted the need for any further punishments. Down tools? Fine, but you run the risk of jeopardising your chances of a flying start.
Does that sound dramatic? It shouldn’t. Isak is a fine footballer – exceptional when on song – and is on a long contract at Anfield. He is viewed, unsurprisingly, as a long-term investment by Liverpool and the odds are that this early blip will end up being a distant memory by the time he gets going.
But his slow start is a problem. Erling Haaland had 17 Premier League goals by November in his first season at Manchester City. Hugo Ekitike has six from 12 club games this season. Nick Woltemade already has five at Newcastle. Isak, not short on confidence, would have backed himself to have scored more than his single Carabao Cup goal by now – even half-fit.
We can trace the issues back to a pre-season which was effectively curtailed in late July, when Isak left the rest of the Newcastle squad in Glasgow before a game against Celtic and never returned.
His attitude was so intransigent that he did not play a single minute in pre-season and trained away from teammates. A token training camp in Spain while the rest of the squad were sweating in Asia summed up preparations for the new season which were far from ideal.
A different kind of footballer – not reliant on the timing of runs, devastating acceleration or the precision of movement – might have been able to get up to speed. But Isak, whose training was carefully managed at Newcastle, never seemed likely to be one of those players.
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Perhaps in time he will come to reflect on what happened in the summer and the advice he got. There was another way – Newcastle offered him a few – and a couple of routes out of St James’ Park that would not have included such behaviour. An injury would be a devastating and sad development.
Wissa’s situation is not a million miles away from Isak’s. He trained with Brentford teammates but his preparation was far from ideal.
Pushed into World Cup qualifiers by DR Congo without playing for Brentford before his move north, he suffered a serious knee injury and will have to be managed back by the Magpies. He has plenty to prove with Woltemade playing so well.
Those who stressed about the spate of strikes in the summer need not have worried. Wissa and Isak will act as cautionary tales for anyone tempted to follow suit.