The latest Newcastle United news as the transfer saga over Alexander Isak's future at St James' Park rumbles on.
Alexander Isak during the Premier League match between Newcastle United FC and Everton FC at St James' Park.
Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak has been told how to force a move from the club this summer.
(Image: George Wood/Getty Images)
Former Premier League striker Troy Deeney has told Alexander Isak that he has gone the wrong way about trying to force a move from Newcastle United to Liverpool, with the striker told to instead disrupt training.
Isak has made his feelings clear on a potential transfer this summer with the forward releasing a statement this week where he mentioned ‘broken promises’. It’s something that was denied by Newcastle in a statement of their own.
Liverpool saw a bid of £110 million turned down by Newcastle earlier in the window. The Magpies have a valuation of at least £150 million for the striker.
Isak has been training away from the main group since pre-season, and will not be part of the squad to take on Liverpool on Monday night.
Speaking about the situation, Deeney outlined the route that he feels Isak should have taken, looking back at something that worked previously for him in forcing a transfer.
“How they should have played it is how I played it with my agent when I was pushing to move from Walsall to Watford back in the summer of 2010,” he wrote in his column for the Sun.
“In private, my agent said to me, ‘You’re going to have to kick up a fuss here.
"’You’re going back to training and you’ll do all of the running, but as soon as a ball is involved, you’re going to have to ruin sessions, you’re going to have to kick balls away. But importantly, you can’t let anyone on the outside know what’s going on."
“It was really hard, you would go home feeling guilty, being a d*** in training for no reason, burning bridges for people you quite like. But you’ve just got to remember who you’re doing it for: yourself.
“That’s how Isak will be feeling. This is a career-changing, career-defining move.
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“You’re going from Newcastle to one of the biggest clubs in world football in Liverpool, where you are probably going to win major titles. But Isak hasn’t gone about it the smart way, and the agent’s been quite lazy in that regard, making big mistakes.
“He’s making his player look like he’s a troublemaker because he’s not getting it done. He should have said to Isak straight away: ‘Go into work, tick over, do all the runs, do all of that so you’re fit, but as soon as the ball is introduced, claim your back hurts and you go inside.’ If it was done like that, then the messaging is very different.
“Newcastle boss Eddie Howe can then go to the media and say, "He is training but he’s got a bit of an injury issue". You can then let people speculate, but they can’t deny that you’re there.
“Now, I know these are very different circumstances in terms of the size of the clubs involved, but the principles still apply. You have to be smart in the way you go about stuff like this.”