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Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said that the door is open for Alexander Isak to return to the fold, despite the Sweden striker clearly wanting to leave the St. James' Park club.
Isak has not trained with his Newcastle teammates since before the club's pre-season tour of China, which he ruled himself out of. The official reason for Isak's absence from the tour was that he was dealing with a fitness concern, but it quickly emerged that he wanted to explore the possibility of leaving Newcastle, amid interest from Liverpool.
Isak has been forced to train alone over the last fortnight, and he was absent as Newcastle opened its Premier League campaign with a goalless draw against Aston Villa.
Howe addressed the Isak situation following the game at Villa Park, saying: “We would like a resolution,” he said. “When I say we, I’m talking about myself and I’m sure the ownership, everyone really, the players that we have, because I think we need that clarity this season.
“Any Premier League season can be hard enough. You don’t need any kind of distraction to swerve your thoughts, to unbalance what we’re doing.
“But I’m certainly not in control of that. And I think there’s only one person really that could control that. Nothing’s changed, the door is well and truly open. But he has to decide what he wants to do.
“I mean, that’s the quickest way. But of course, Alex is in control of what he does. I’m not in control of him.”
Newcastle's traveling fans made their feelings clear on Isak after the 0-0 draw, chanting "there's only one greedy b------" in reference to the player's desire to leave.
Howe was asked about the chants and gave a diplomatic response, saying: "Whatever happens (with Isak) our supporters acted really well today because they supported the team when we were playing," Howe said. "They’ve always done that unbelievably well. If they want to say something afterwards, they are free to do that”
Howe refused to speculate over whether Newcastle would have won the game against Villa with Isak in the team.
“I don’t think it’s the narrative we want to go down, because it’s easy to say, but you’ve got no way of knowing if that’s the case,” he said.
“Of course, you’re going to miss someone that scored the goals that Alex has, and not just the goals, but the calibre of player that he is.
“So we’re not silly enough to think any different, but we just have to look and talk about the players that are here and what they’ve given today.
“It’s very easy for the players to have a feeling of negativity going into the game or an excuse they’re ready, but there was no sign of that in our performance.”
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