Alexander Isak’s Sweden boss has told Newcastle fans they “don’t know the whole picture” and should not “draw conclusions” about the absent striker.
Isak has soured his relationship with the Toon faithful after he downed tools in a bid to force through a move to Liverpool. At the start of August, the Anfield side had a £110m plus add-ons bid rejected with Newcastle insisting he is not for sale.
At the weekend, the Swede was absent from the squad with the team unable to beat 10-man Aston Villa and looking distinctly short of a striker.
Now, the player has been defended by his national team coach Jon Dahl Tomasson who said that after speaking with the player, fans do not know the whole story.
“First of all: Alex is an extremely professional player, a fantastic character and personality,” he told Swedish outlet Fotbollskanalen. “I have talked a lot with Alex during this period. Situations like this are quite complex.
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“These are extremely complex environments that the players operate in. I’m sure it will work out in the end, but you have to know the whole picture before you draw conclusions. That’s always a good tip.
“I don’t think we know [the whole picture.] I don’t know the whole picture either. It’s quite normal because there’s a lot of politics in a football club. But one thing is for sure: Alex is a great guy and very professional. We should all be very careful about drawing conclusions because we don’t know the bigger picture.”
Isak first put himself in the Newcastle bad books after skipping the club’s tour of South Korea to instead train at former club Real Sociedad. Once the rest of the squad returned, Isak was told to train alone and was excluded from a pre-season barbecue meant to boost squad harmony.
After the 0-0 draw at Villa Park, a section of the travelling Newcastle support stayed to chant ‘one greedy b*****d’.
Despite this hostility, head coach Eddie Howe has left the door open to an Isak return, saying “he has to decide what he wants to do.”
“Nothing has changed,” Howe said when questioned about the latest on Isak’s future. “The door is well and truly open.
“He has to decide what he wants to do. We would like a resolution. We need that clarity. You don’t need any kind of distraction.
“I am not in control of that. There is one person who can control that. Let’s wait and see. I have made my stance clear. I am concentrating on the team.”
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