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Newcastle United issue extensive Alexander Isak update as Liverpool transfer request made

Eddie Howe was asked extensively about Alexander Isak ahead of Newcastle United’s home match against Liverpool on Monday night (8pm kick-off).

Liverpool, Newcastle and Isak have dominated the summer transfer narrative with the Swedish striker currently refusing to play for The Magpies in a bid to force an exit from St James’ Park.

It’s Isak’s wish to join Liverpool but a deal is yet to materialise and with the side’s going head to head at St James’ Park on Monday, the striker is still not available to play.

In the build-up to the match, Isak released a public statement on Instagram declaring his wish to leave Newcastle, citing ‘broken promises’ as a deciding factor Newcastle quickly responded to the statement with a statement of their own claiming that the player is unlikely to leave the football club this month.

Unsurprisingly, many of the questions Howe faced were on the subject of Isak. Here is a full transcript of what the Newcastle head coach said...

Eddie Howe answers Alexander Isak questions

Has the situation changed?

No, there's been no change.

Will he play against Liverpool?

He won't be part of the squad for this weekend's game.

My preference for these things is it doesn't happen publicly. Everything is better dealt with behind closed doors, but needs must.

In this situation the club has spoken and probably justifiably so in that moment.

Yeah, of course. He's contracted to us. He's our player. My wish is he would be playing on Monday night but he won't be, which is regrettable.

But 100% I want to see him back in a Newcastle shirt.

How are you dealing with this situation personally?

These situations are far from ideal, as in talking press wise.

A lot of attention has gone on that rather than the team. But as soon as I leave here I'm back with the team and back preparing and taking training, delivering meetings and speaking to players.

The job never changes, just the outside perception is one that's totally different.

Have you seen Alexander Isak?

I haven't seen him this week, I saw him last week. When I see him we speak as normal. There are no issues between us.

It's difficult on both sides. It's far from ideal for both parties, that's Alex and us. But when we see each other we're fine.

He's training later on detached from the group.

We will I'm sure catch up at some stage and hopefully speak soon.

How do the players feel?

There's no doubt how the players will feel. They will feel the same way I do.

Alex is an outstanding player and a very, very good person, a good character, a good lad. He wants to succeed in his career.

This has been a really difficult situation for him and for the players to see us without him.

The players have handled it really well. If Alex decided to come back and play for us the players would welcome him back,

Do you see the Isak situation being resolved before the end of the transfer window?

I'm not a fortune-teller, unfortunately. I'd love to be, but I've got no way of knowing what will happen in the next few days in terms of trying to get some finality on the situation, so I'm in the same boat as everybody else, really.

Has Isak been fined of disciplined?

That is a question I don't know the answer to. I'm not dealing with it. My focus is on the team that we have, all the training that we have to prepare for our game against Liverpool. Someone else is dealing with that.

Is it a lose-lose scenario with Isak?

The club has to act in the best interests of Newcastle and we will do that in every situation. I think it is a lose-lose situation to a degree for us because I don’t think we can come out of this winning in any situation.

“That is why I have said all summer it is a difficult situation for the club to manage. We love Alex in the sense in what has done for this football club since he has been here, what he has contributed, what he has given, how professional he’s been and this has just been an unfortunate few months that looks like it is coming to an end. And it will come to an end pretty quickly and then we can focus on the football again.

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If he plays for you again, will it be a committed Alex Isak?

If Alex is to play for Newcastle again, he has to be totally committed. I don’t think it works any other way. But that question is for another day. When any player puts on the shirt and steps onto the pitch, he has to give his all for the team.

The board have finally spoken, has their message being equally strong to Alex all summer in terms of they don’t foresee the conditions being met for Alex to leave?

The club has had a very strong stance regarding Alex’s situation all summer. Obviously there has been a lot of conversations between the club and his representatives that I’ve not been a part of, but for me, nothing has changed throughout the summer.

Has he been badly advised?

I don't think that's for me to comment on and give an opinion on. That's for Alex to reflect upon.

I can only control and deal with my train of thoughts and actions, and I'm not going to give an opinion that I don't really fully know everything about.

Can his relationship with NUFC supporters be repaired?

I believe it can. I believe the supporters will always react off how a player plays and gives the team.

This has been an unfortunate situation but there are always two sides to every story.

There's always more than even I will know, because there are conversations and things that have taken place far away from me and my knowledge off it.

I've been focusing on the team and pre-season, so I've become totally detached from the situation to a degree so I think my job now is to support Alex, care for him at this moment in time and see where we are in a week's time.

Disappointed by nature of his statement?

My emotion was one of disappointment in the respect of these things are being made public. For me, all of these things, ideally, should be face to face, club on player. Yes, in public, it’s great for you guys, it’s great news, but it doesn’t reflect well on us or Alex. That would be my preference, it always is. But the modern day world, that’s sort of what happens. From the club’s persecutive, they thought they had to act and reply. For me, it’s a sad moment trying to deal with it all.

Could window close and Alexander Isak just doesn’t play for the club?

I can’t read the future, I don’t know what will happen. It goes without saying, if you’re going to select a team to play, those players have to be committed in giving their best performance. I have always believed in those values, in order to produce a team that can win matches. That’s what I’m paid to do.

All the other stuff around it, things can change. I have had this so many times in my career, a player might not be in a great place one day, and a few days later they are there and ready to play. That is the beauty of human-beings, we can all change our emotions and feelings quite quickly.

When you have spoken to Alex, has the conversation involved trying to find a resolution?

Yeah, of course, because that’s what we want. I’ll say it again, we want him training and playing with the team. That is our wish, he’s with us but obviously he’s not. It’s not the desirable outcome for us at the moment until he’s back playing. I say that because he’s our player and he’s contracted to us, so that is a sad situation for us, so yeah, of course, when I speak to him I’m trying to find a positive solution all the time.

How is he?

I haven’t seen him for about five or six days. When I last saw him he was fine, good, normal Alex."

Did you have conversations with Isak about his future?

Yeah, me and Alex had conversations towards the end of the season. Yes, I am not going to sit here and deny that."

Did he tell you he wanted to leave?

I have always said that individual conversations are better off remaining private. But we had conversations at the end of the season.

But I have had conversations with him near enough every day. That wouldn't be abnormal.

Can you ever trust Alexander Isak again?

Yeah of course, trust is earned both ways. That has to be a relationship that you build. When you sign a player you work on that. I place a lot of my time and my effort into helping a player be the best he can possibly be, working hard every day to maximise their abilities. I’ve gone on that journey with Alex so I don’t think we have any issues on the footballing side, at all. I hope I can work with him again and get him back to his very best.

Someone is going to lose face here, do you need an independent mediator?

I don’t see it necessarily that way, as black and white as that. We will support Alex in every way possible, we can’t at the moment, the situation doesn’t allow us to. But there will come a time when we can have conversations with him and, yeah, just focus back on the football.

You’ve very highly of Alexander Isak and his professionalism and commitment during this press conference, but his actions don't add up with what you're saying?

Yes, but the two things are very different. This situation, I've said many times, is regrettable. It isn't something that we wanted, I'm sure it isn't something that Alex wanted, although it's led to this position.

I'm talking about his general conduct every day, his professionalism in terms of how he prepares for games, training, the life that he leads. He's very committed. He's very driven and he is very professional. Obviously, this situation is something other people can make their opinions based on. I'm giving you background about the player that I know every day.

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