Newcastle United’s next game is against Liverpool, which could be described as the Alexander Isak derby.
However, the likelihood is that Alexander Isak will not be playing for either club.
Isak is refusing to play for Newcastle at the moment, seeing his Toon career as over. Alternatively, a move to Liverpool is not going to materialise in time for him to make his Reds debut on Monday night.
The situation is an absolute mess, and it is going to rumble on until after the Magpies face Liverpool at St James’ Park.
The 25-year-old will continue to be the story heading into that game, as he looks set to sit out a second competitive game for the club that employs him and pays his wages.
Alexander Isak plays for Newcastle United in a friendly.
Photo by Etsuo Hara/Getty Images
Sweden manager speaks out on ‘extremely professional’ Alexander Isak
Despite having not played for Newcastle United all summer and now not even training with his teammates, Isak has been told that he is actually ‘very professional’.
That is according to former Toon striker and current Sweden manager Jon Dahl Tomasson, who has spoken to Fotbollskanalen about the Isak situation.
“First of all, Alex is an extremely professional player,” he said.
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“A fantastic character and personality. I have spoken to Alex a lot during this period.
“Situations like this are quite complex. It is extremely complex environments that the players operate in. I am sure that it will be resolved in the end, but you have to know the whole picture before drawing conclusions. That is always a good tip.
“I don’t think we know it [the whole picture]. I don’t know the whole picture either. It is quite normal because there is a lot of politics in a football club. But one thing is for sure, Alex is a fantastic guy and very professional.”
St James’ Park will send another message to Alexander Isak
After Newcastle’s draw with Aston Villa, the Toon Army turned their attention to Isak.
Once the players had turned away, Newcastle fans aimed chants at Isak at Villa Park. They made their feelings very clear, and will likely do the same at St James’ Park next Monday night.
Those chants will likely be even louder, given there will be more Toon fans in attendance and the opposition is the club that Isak wants to join.
Isak has created an unsavoury subplot for a game that is already massive in its own right. Newcastle vs Liverpool has become quite ferocious in recent years, but that will be dialled up even further given what has gone on this summer.
As it stands, it appears extremely unlikely that the player that has caused such a storm will actually be at St James’ Park when Eddie Howe and Arne Slot face off.