It’s been a turbulent couple of days for Newcastle United surrounding talisman Alexander Isak’s future and things took another twist with his absence for their pre-season tour of the Far East.
As revealed exclusively by Mail Sport on Thursday afternoon, Isak has told Newcastle he wants to explore a move away from the club.
Isak, who has three years left on his contract, has been subject of strong interest from Liverpool this summer and the Newcastle hierarchy are aware of his wish to consider his options this summer.
That bombshell was coupled by his absence from the Magpies flight to the Far East ahead of their pre-season tour in Singapore and South Korea. Newcastle say his absence is because of the minor thigh issue.
However, despite the reasoning, many Newcastle supporters have been left visibly frustated at the news on social media.
The St. James Park’s outfit took to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday sharing a picture of the squad about to fly inside their aircraft.
Alexander Isak has told Newcastle he wants to explore a move away from the club this summer
Isak has been the strong subject of interest from Liverpool but has three years left on his deal
The Magpies hierarchy are aware of the striker’s wish to consider his options this summer
Sharing two pictures of Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes as well as Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento all smiles – their mood contrasted with many of the club’s devout fan base, who were upset about Isak’s uncertain future.
‘Let’s post loads of pictures of player on the plane instead of talking about why we’re taking 2 steps back,’ came on sarcastic reply.
‘Phenomenal timing lads, announce another kit whilst your at it why not,’ came another in an equally-damning tone.
Another user upped the language with an expletive rant at his club, writing: ‘Yeh f*** off. You know what’s happening when this s**** starts coming out. Oh but we’ve kept hall and tino lads, be happy. F*** off.’ [sic]
Other supporters weren’t as strong with their language, but the message was equally as clear.
‘Stop posting until Isak stuff is sorted – shambles’, read on post, while another wrote: ‘Just smashed my phone off the wall cheers.’
Some users, became creative with their posts – using GIFs to illustrate the feeling.
Sharing a picture of a beaten character Tom, from Tom and Jerry, a user accompanied the post with the caption: ‘Newcastle after this window’.
Speaking recently, Isak’s agent Gonzalo Gaitan confirmed to Saudi Arabian newspaper Arriyadiyah that he is assessing his options.
‘We are indeed studying and analysing all options, and we may be close to finalising the next step for the player,’ Gaitan said.
‘Without revealing any details regarding whether Isak will transfer or stay with Newcastle.’
After his omission from Saturday’s thumping 4-0 defeat at Celtic, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said Isak didn’t play due to injury. Â
‘I chose to send him home. The last thing Alex wants if he is not playing is to be sat in the stand and under that scrutiny, then if he wasn’t going to play today, we mutually agreed he shouldn’t be here.
‘It was my decision. He travelled back to Glasgow with us, but I decided to send him home due to the speculation around him. Both [Joelinton and Isak] are fit but not ready to play. Alex has trained and is fine but we didn’t want to take the risk with him.
‘Yes, I’ve had discussions with him, but that’s not abnormal,’ he added. ‘I respect a player’s career and how short it is. Alex has been really good, he’s trained really well and I realise there’ll be noise around him.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool have been keen on Isak – as Eddie Howe departed without him today
‘We have a few of those players who are irreplaceable. Your top players are so hard to find, so hard to recruit and so hard to develop. So when you have them, you need to treasure them. Of course we’re desperate to keep him as part of our team.
‘I think it’s difficult for me to ever give 100 per cent clarity on any player, I’d never do that.
‘All I can say is Alex is happy at Newcastle, he loves the players, the staff, the team.
‘I’ve never had any issue with him and I’m confident he’s going to be here at the start of the season.’
