Alexander Isak’s old poster-boy image has been removed from the plateglass windows of Newcastle’s club store and, judging by Eddie Howe’s demeanour on Friday night, the Sweden striker could soon be erased from the attacking roll call.
Isak, currently engaged in a standoff with the club as he tries to force a move to Liverpool, was nowhere to be seen as Newcastle drew 2-2 with Espanyol in a St James’ Park friendly. Not that his absence prevented the night’s subtext being all about the man who was not there.
Afterwards Howe admitted he “does not know what the future holds” for Isak after revealing he will continue to train in isolation next week. “We’ve had discussions and it’s clear we can’t involve him in the group at the moment,” said Newcastle’s manager. “I don’t know how long that will last. He is training later than the rest of the squad.
“From our perspective we’d like to see him back with the team but the situation has to be right for the team. He’s contracted to us so, of course, there’s a chance he could play for Newcastle again. But I don’t know what the future holds.”
Given Newcastle’s continuing struggles to sign a replacement, Howe was asked if he could simply insist that a player who swerved the club’s pre-season tour of Singapore and South Korea should honour his deal but the manager, who said he did not think the board had yet disciplined the 25-year-old, demurred. “It’s not that straightforward,” he said. “We’d have done that if we could but we’re not currently in a position to do that.
“The team has, of course, been disrupted by this. But that doesn’t mean we can’t overcome this and come back even stronger.”
Matt Targett heads Newcastle level against Espanyol in Friday’s friendly at St James’ Park. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
The sight of more than 20,000 empty seats on Friday night at a customarily full arena will alarm Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian ownership but the sparse crowd was arguably more about Howe saving most of his first XI for Saturday afternoon’s second La Liga friendly against Atlético Madrid than an outright mutiny at an admittedly dismal transfer window before a Champions League campaign.
In Isak’s absence, and with his fellow striker Callum Wilson having moved to West Ham, the endearingly enthusiastic but hugely inexperienced Will Osula led the attacking line as Newcastle, with the outstanding Lewis Miley looking like an England central midfielder in the making, were left without a victory in this troubled pre-season.
With a decent striker on the pitch they would arguably have won. The only problem is that the entire No 9 species seem to have developed an allergy to Tyneside. Bryan Mbeumo, João Pedro, Liam Delap and Benjamin Sesko rank among those forwards who have turned Newcastle down and the St James’ Park board will not countenance selling Isak to Anfield for a sum well in excess of £110m until two new attacking faces are secured.
With the transfer window’s closure fast approaching it is all turning into a race against the clock, not to mention a game of who blinks first. Despite excluding Isak from a training ground barbecue last week in the wake of the striker’s unsanctioned trip to train alone at his old club Real Sociedad, Howe still does not know where the striker who scored 27 goals for him last season will be playing when Liverpool visit on this month’s bank holiday Monday.
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Eddie Howe watches as his Newcastle team draw 2-2 with Espanyol at St James’ Park. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/Reuters
Despite, albeit weakening, protestations to the contrary, Howe’s demeanour suggested he feels he and his dressing room would be infinitely better off without a player who has evidently checked out, mentally at least, from Tyneside. It would surely be much better to reinvest Liverpool’s fee on some decent new players – the Coventry midfielder Jack Rudoni anyone? – and create a new hero or two.
Although a good-humoured, family-dominated crowd of just over 30,000 was not exactly typical of the more vehemently partisan Premier League crew, there is a sense that many Newcastle fans have already loosened the emotional ties that until very recently bound them tightly to Isak. Granted they feel more than a little let down but there is a mood of almost shrugging acceptance that Liverpool have turned his head and they will never again sing their former Abba-pastiche anthem, Gimme, Gimme a Striker from Sweden.
Should Yoane Wissa, Ollie Watkins, Nicolas Jackson – (not that Newcastle fans seem overly keen on him) – Jørgen Strand Larsen, Samu Aghehowa, Gonçalo Ramos or any other potential attacking recruits start scoring regularly it will surely be a case of “the king is dead, long live the king”.
In any case, Howe already has a Targett on his side. Matt, a veteran full-back, operating on the left of a midfield three, discovered his latent Isak streak as he met Miley’s cross to head Newcastle level after Edu Expósito has expertly half-volleyed Espanyol into the lead. After that Newcastle’s impressive debutant in goal, the Southampton loanee Aaron Ramsdale, saved Javi Puado’s penalty before Murphy’s goal preceded Kike García’s deserved leveller.
There is evidently much work to be done on Tyneside before next weekend’s Premier League opener at Aston Villa. “The balance of our squad isn’t quite right,” said Howe. “But I’m hopeful we can adjust that in the next couple of weeks.”