Eddie Howe sends fearful warning to Newcastle board over Alexander Isak transfer saga

Newcastle striker Alexander Isak is pushing for a move to Liverpool in the final days of the transfer window, and Eddie Howe has stated what the Magpies cannot do in the Swede’s transfer saga

Eddie Howe believes that Newcastle United’s owners won’t green-light the sale of Alexander Isak to Liverpool until a suitable replacement has been secured in the final week of the transfer window.

Liverpool’s £110m bid for Isak was turned down by the Magpies earlier this month, and the player is keen to exit St James’ Park, having expressed his desire to pursue his career elsewhere. Isak, who netted 23 Premier League goals last season, cited a minor injury as the reason for skipping Newcastle’s pre-season tour of the Far East last month and returned to train at his old club, Real Sociedad.

The Swedish international was missing from the squad that drew 0-0 with Aston Villa in the Premier League last week and will also be absent for Monday evening’s match against Arne Slot’s champions. This comes six days after Isak publicly declared his wish to move on his social media account.

Newcastle have so far struggled to find an adequate successor to Isak, having missed out on Liam Delap and Joao Pedro, who both joined Chelsea, Hugo Ekitike, who signed for Liverpool, and most recently Benjamin Sesko, who chose to join Manchester United for around £73m.

Howe believes that the club’s Saudi Arabian owners won’t approve Isak’s potential record-breaking British departure without securing an alternative before the transfer window shuts on 1 September.

He said: “I don’t think the club will allow that situation to happen. We certainly can’t go through the season with no recognised striker at the football club – and that’s no disrespect to Will Osula.

“I think he’s doing really well and he’s progressing really well, but he’s got limited experience in the Premier League, although I’m really happy with his career progression.

“But Alex at the moment would be the only striker we have with Premier League history of goals and appearances and starts, so we can’t leave ourselves in that position.”

Discussing the possibility of Anthony Gordon filling in for Isak, Howe added: “He’s an attacker and he’s a very good attacker.

“The beauty of Anthony when we signed him was he can play right, left and potentially down the middle, something that he has done before. He’s done it for England, so it’s not something totally new to him.

“I don’t think anyone can fill Alex’s boots and Anthony will know that himself. He’s not trying to be Alex, he’s got to be himself. I think if he’d scored against Aston Villa, you’d go, ‘that’s the perfect number nine performance’. I think he had seven shots in the game, he looked a threat, he got a man sent off.

“He was using his qualities, which are his pace and his dribbling skills, so I thought it was a really good performance from him.

“Yes, of course we were missing the goal from the team’s overall performance, but hopefully those will come.”