Newcastle United’s opening two games have been dominated by Eddie Howe trying to find solutions to Alexander Isak’s absence from the side.
Newcastle have started a new season, fresh from a cup win and Champions League qualification, without an established striker.
Callum Wilson was released earlier in the summer and Isak has since gone on strike in a bid to force a move away from the club.
But with less than a week left of the summer transfer window, an exit for the wantaway Swede is looking increasingly unlikely.
Isak has not trained with Newcastle’s first team in over a month and hasn’t played for the club in any game, competitive or otherwise, since last season.
But the club are actively engaging with Isak in an attempt to reintegrate him into the squad but the striker has maintained his stance of wanting to leave. While Howe is not involved in that process at the moment, co-owner Jamie Reuben and PIF’s Jacobo Solis have spoken to the striker at his home.
But the situation remains unresolved heading into Saturday’s match at Leeds.
Because of this, Howe will have to find a striker alternative for the trip to Elland Road. Anthony Gordon looked set to be that man having started Newcastle’s opening two games as a striker.
But Gordon’s straight red card against Liverpool on Monday night rules him out of contention for Newcastle’s next three domestic matches with Howe having to turn his attentions elsewhere.
The Gazette has launched a new WhatsApp NUFC channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates directly to your phone.Simply click this linkto join our NUFC WhatsApp channel.
Eddie Howe namechecks NUFC striker alternative ahead of Leeds.
Howe has already admitted Newcastle can’t continue into the season without an established striker available before name-checking Osula as an option.
“We can’t go through the season with no recognised striker at the football club,” he said. That’s no disrespect to Will Osula who is doing really well, he’s progressing really well, but he’s got limited experience in the Premier League.
“I’m really happy with his career progression but Alex is the only striker we have with Premier League history of goals, appearances and starts.”
Osula came off the bench to score his second Premier League goal for Newcastle as he still waits to make his full league debut for the club over a year after signing. At 22, Osula would now take up a place in Newcastle’s Premier League squad but may be Newcastle’s only real option heading into the trip to Elland Road unless Howe were to play another player out of position.
“If you do the maths, we're running out of options in that position,” he admitted. “But again, I have to look at positives. When I'm sat here now in this moment, I can't go to the negative world.
“Will Osula came on today, scored a goal, did well. I'm very pleased with him. So it's a big opportunity potentially for him.
“I think he's done himself no harm today. He scored a vital goal for us, took it really well, led the line well. We were down to 10 men and that's a difficult moment for the team, but everyone gave so much in that second half.”
Continue Reading