Alexander Isak has effectively gone on strike at Newcastle United, refusing to train with the first team or make himself available for selection on matchday one on Saturday as he pushes for a move to Liverpool.
According to Daily Mail reporter Craig Hope, Isak will miss Newcastle’s Premier League opener against Aston Villa after informing the club he will not participate in matches or squad training sessions until the transfer window closes.
Isak is still collecting his £140,000-a-week wages, but faces disciplinary action if he misses competitive fixtures. Newcastle simply have their right to punish a player who, put bluntly, refuses to do what he’s paid for as a professional worker under contract.
Sources say Isak’s stance follows the ill-advised suggestions of his agent, Vlado Lermic, who is determined not to give Newcastle any reason to slow their search for replacement strikers and ultimately go away with forcing the Sweden international’s transfer to the Reds before the summer transfer window is over.
Isak still has three years left on his contract and scored 62 goals in 109 appearances for the club, including the winner in their first trophy triumph in 70 years. Whatever crossed his mind, making him go from white to black, yin to yang, no-half-measures-approach, nobody really seems to know.
Eddie Howe and the club hierarchy have been aware of Isak’s unhappiness since last summer, Hope reports, when they initially promised the player a contract extension that was later withdrawn under then-new-now-gone sporting director Paul Mitchell.
Isak’s agent formally requested Newcastle for the player to leave earlier this summer, with Liverpool having had a £110 million bid rejected.
Newcastle are exploring several scenarios, from convincing Isak to stay and sign a new deal under improved terms to selling him at the right price, only once they land one, optimally two, replacements.
Brentford forward Yoane Wissa is expected to be signed in the coming days, and a second Liverpool bid is anticipated before the deadline after that transfer is sealed and Wissa arrives in Tyneside.