ยท 2 August 2025, 14:30
Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak took it upon himself to head out to Spain to train at his old club, Real Sociedad's training facilities, while they were away on pre-season duty.
It's a move that makes sense if you look at it from Isak's perspective. There is likely to be a media circus hanging around Darsley Park waiting for a glimpse of Isak reporting for duty, shouting questions and generally being disruptive.
Perhaps even worse than that, angry fans would be gathered at the gates, and who knows what they'd do or say, so we completely understand Isak's desire to remove himself from that potential situation.
Also, just to play Devil's advocate, if he actually does have an injury, then it's not uncommon for players to head off to foreign lands while they recover.
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Isn't AI fun?
Eddie Howe wasn't informed of Alexander Isak's decision to go to Spain it seems
With all that being said, however, while the early reports suggested that Isak had told Eddie Howe of his intentions, the Newcastle gaffer gave a very different impression when speaking to the media in Korea today, as reported by The Chronicle.
"I know where he is now - through the media."
If Howe genuinely only knows of Isak's whereabouts through the media, then that paints an entirely different picture, and the reports of Isak going AWOL become more accurate.
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Everybody will be reunited on Monday
Eddie Howe and the squad return to Newcastle on Monday, and it's expected that Isak will return too, so things should start to come to a head next week.
Howe briefly spoke about the Liverpool bid, but was very vague. We'll be covering that later today.
Right now, we're still all guessing as to what happens next after the Magpies rejected Liverpool's formal offer yesterday.