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Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy has insisted that Alexander Isak will swiftly return to playing for Newcastle United if the Magpies block him from leaving.
Isak has missed most of pre-season after not going on tour to Asia with his teammates. He sat out the first game of the new season against Aston Villa, where Newcastle fans turned on him, and will miss Monday's clash with Liverpool too.
"Even if Liverpool go up a bit [with their bid], I don’t see how Newcastle can let him go when they’ve got nobody to play center-forward," Murphy said on talkSPORT. "It’s just simple. What’s he going to do? He’s got his World Cup year. He’s got to keep playing to keep the interest in him if he goes next summer. What choice have you got?
"You’ve got to play football. Even if you have to apologize, you have to hold your hands up... whatever it is, he’s got to play football."
Earlier in the week, Isak accused Newcastle of breaking promises made to him heading into the summer. That looked like a desperate move to force through an exit with less than two weeks of the summer window remaining.
"They’ve got a £60 million asset, they’ve got a three-year contract left, and we’re having this discussion about a gentleman’s agreement," Simon Jordan added.
"People are actually believing it. People listen to ‘broken promises’ and then you get idiots like Jamie O’Hara on Sky saying broken promises are being made. Nonsense!
"Everybody in the real world knows that if an undertaking were given to a football player that they were prepared to engage in a discussion allowing him to be sold, then it would be documented properly, in the same way his contract was documented."
Today, Eddie Howe was asked about Isak during his press conference ahead of facing Liverpool on Monday. While he ruled the Swede out of that fixture, he reiterated his desire to reintegrate the player when he is ready to return.
"The club has to act in the best interests of Newcastle United," Howe said during today's press conference in the North East. "It will do that in every situation.
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"[Isak's social media statement] was a sad moment. My preference is that these things do not happen publicly. They are better dealt with behind closed doors.
"But needs must (re Newcastle's statement in response). The club has spoken, and justifiably so in that moment. He’s contracted to us. He’s our player.
"My wish is that he would be playing on Monday night with us. He won’t be, and that’s regrettable at this moment. But 100 per cent, I want him back in a Newcastle shirt.
"It is disappointing I am having to mention this at length and taking us away from the football. The players have done well to blank it all out. But it is there in the background, and it is regrettable that we are in this situation."
Liverpool.com says: It does feel like Isak has broken bridges to such an extent that an exit is inevitable. The question might be whether that happens before the September deadline, or in a future window.
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