Newcastle United's season has yet to fully recover from the Liverpool fallout
Swedish striker Alexander Isak.
Swedish striker Alexander Isak.(Image: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty Images)
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Alexander Isak continues to cast an unwanted shadow over Newcastle United's season.
Two and a half months on from his acrimonious departure from St James' Park to Liverpool in a deal that sent shockwaves throughout European football, Newcastle are still feeling the tremors.
Newcastle banked a British record transfer fee that could amount to around £130million, and brought in two strikers of their own in Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa.
The latter is still getting up to fitness after a knee injury picked up days after signing, while Woltemade hit the ground running with four goals in his first six games before hitting something of a wall in recent games. His dip in form has coincided with a dip overall from the Magpies after a solid start to the season.
Eddie Howe's men are in a rough patch after three successive away defeats, including a poor performance at Brentford last Sunday. The intensity and vigour of the team seems to be missing and former Premier League winner Emmanuel Petit has put that down, in part, to the after-effects of Isak's departure on the rest of the squad.
Petit, who also won the World Cup with France, believes the fallout of the striker's exit, given his status within the squad, has played a part in damaging the remaining players' mentality and confidence.
"Newcastle United have done great things in the Premier League for the last couple of years, but this year, they maybe haven’t hit the standards that we have been used to," he told Jeffbet.
"I think the Alexander Isak story has had an impact on the squad. If I'm a Newcastle player seeing one of the best players leave, I'm disappointed.
"Yoane Wissa has been injured and Nick Woltemade has a tough path to follow in trying to replace Isak, so you can't expect him to do everything right away. Isak has left a big gap with his departure from the club."
Isak's own form and career has stuttered since leaving Tyneside. He has clocked up just 253 Premier League minutes out of the 720 played by Liverpool since his arrival in early September.
His most recent appearance for his new club was a 45-minute stint against Eintracht Frankfurt on October 22, where he sustained a groin injury. He is now on international duty with Sweden, alongside former Newcastle teammate Anthony Elanga.