Newcastle boss Eddie Howe makes Isak transfer statement after Liverpool links

Alexander Isak was absent from the Newcastle squad which was beaten by Celtic in a pre-season friendly on Saturday - and Eddie Howe then clarified why he'd been left out

Eddie Howe has attempted to clarify the situation around Alexander Isak after he missed Newcastle’s pre-season friendly against Celtic on Saturday. Isak was conspicuous by his absence as Newcastle were thrashed 4-0 by the Scottish champions in Glasgow.

The Swedish striker is the subject of transfer interest from Liverpool, with the Premier League champions mulling a £120million bid earlier this week. They have since moved onto Hugo Ekitike – a player Newcastle saw a £70m bid rejected for – and are confident of signing the Eintracht Frankfurt star.

Nevertheless, there remains some doubt over the future of Isak at St James’ Park, and fears were raised among fans on Saturday when Isak’s name was absent from the squad to face Celtic. He was omitted alongside Joelinton and Howe tried his best to quell speculation post-match, although he arguably only succeeded in fanning the flames.

Newcastle said before the game that Isak was being left out to manage his minutes after the squad trained in Austria and before they jetted off to Singapore. But Howe's answer after the Celtic thrashing showed an ulterior motive.

“I chose to send him home,” he said. “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.”

Howe said there had “been no formal approach” from Liverpool over a transfer for Isak, but revealed that he had spoken to the 25-year-old.

“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.”

One thing is clear: Newcastle are desperate to keep their star striker, who joined in a club-record £63m move from Real Sociedad in 2022. “We have a few of those players who are irreplaceable,” Howe said.

“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."