Eddie Howe has acknowledged that Alexander Isak’s standoff with Newcastle has left the club in a “lose-lose situation” and described it is a “sad moment”.
Isak will again not be involved at St James’ Park on Monday night when Newcastle face Liverpool, the side the Sweden striker has been agitating to join all summer. Howe said he has not spoken to Isak this week, meaning the pair have had no contact since the events of Tuesday night, when a player currently training alone posted an Instagram message in which he spoke of “broken promises”, a “loss of trust” and a relationship that “could not continue.”
“I don’t think we can come out of this winning in any situation,” said Howe, well aware that, come 2 September, Isak will either remain in the north east against his will or will have departed amid considerable acrimony. “I think it’s a lose-lose situation, to a degree, for us.”
Newcastle responded to Isak’s Instagram post with a statement of their own, emphasising an intention to keep someone with three years remaining on his contract but, possibly, leaving the door to a potential deal with Liverpool slightly ajar. Nonetheless, for Isak to end up at Anfield in this transfer window, Howe would need to sign two new strikers and Newcastle to be paid a fee somewhere between their £150m asking fee and the £110m bid Liverpool have already seen rejected.
“It’s a sad moment,” reflected Howe as he anxiously awaiting developments in Newcastle’s pursuit of Brentford’s Yoane Wissa and Wolves’s Jørgen Strand Larsen. “These things being made public doesn’t reflect well on us, or Alex. It’s been an unfortunate few months that looks like it will come to an end pretty quickly.” Not that Newcastle’s manager seems remotely clear on how, precisely, the saga will be resolved. “I’m not a fortune teller,” he added. “I’ve got no way of knowing what will happen in the next few days. But he’s contracted to us, he’s our player.”
Howe weighed his words carefully as he struck a decidedly conciliatory tone. “If Alex decided to come back and play for us the players would welcome him back,” he said. “Alex is an outstanding player and a very, very good person, a good character, a good lad. He wants to succeed in his career.
“Things can change. A player might not be in a great place one days and a few days later they are there and ready to play. That’s the beauty of human beings, we can all change our feelings and emotions quite quickly.”
Not that Howe will welcome Isak back on any terms. “I 100% want him in a Newcastle shirt. But if Alex is to play for Newcastle again, he has to be totally committed.”
With both Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian owners and Isak desperate to avoid losing face, the manager finds himself walking a diplomatic tightrope. “This has been an unfortunate situation but there are always two sides to every story,” he said, pointedly. “There’s more than even I will know, because there are conversations that have taken place far away from me and my knowledge of them.”
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Howe did concede he had held meetings with Isak in last spring but, perhaps tellingly, he would not be drawn as to whether he knew then that the 25-year-old was anxious to move on. “Me and Alex had conversations towards the end of last season. I am not going to deny that,” Howe said. “But individual conversations are best off remaining private.”
The 47-year-old also claimed he personally was not at loggerheads with Isak. “There are no issues between us,” Howe insisted. “I haven’t seen him this week but, when I do see him, we speak as normal. It’s difficult on both sides. It’s far from ideal. But we’re fine.”
Isak’s seemingly shattered relationship with Newcastle’s supporters could prove harder to mend. “I believe it can be fixed,” countered Howe. “I believe supporters always react to how a player plays and what he gives to the team.”
