Alexander Isak was the biggest story of a game in which he didn’t even play as Newcastle United lost to Celtic on Saturday.
Pre-season began with a whimper for Newcastle United as they fell to a heavy defeat at the home of the Glasgow giants.
Celtic beat Newcastle 4-0 but the even more worrying update was the fact Isak wasn’t even at the ground.
Liverpool want to sign Isak and while there has never been any suggestion Newcastle will look to sell the Sweden international, what happened on Saturday was hardly positive.
Eddie Howe confirmed Newcastle had sent Isak home from Celtic, not wanting him to have to sit in the stands in view of thousands amid so much talk about his future.
Newcastle are managing Isak’s minutes and expect him to form part of the squad who travel to Asia for their pre-season tour next week.
Still, given all the speculation of late, the fact he missed the game entirely is hard to ignore.
- READ MORE: What Alexander Isak said about PIF immediately after he signed Newcastle United contract in 2022
Newcastle United sources insist they were protecting Alexander Isak
Such has been the level of interest in Isak, what happened on Saturday was always likely to attract attention.
However, according to journalist Ben Jacobs, sources from the Newcastle camp are insisting that the club were protecting Isak from the cameras rather than anything to do with him potentially leaving St James’ Park.
Jacobs adds that his sources are claiming that Howe simply meant he didn’t want to have Isak deal with cameras when he was sat in the stands, which may have led to a relatively awkward situation inside the stadium.
Newcastle United get it all wrong with Alexander Isak situation
Isak has said he’s happy at Newcastle and while the idea of a move to Liverpool appealing would hardly be a shock, there is nothing to indicate he has changed in that stance to the point where he’ll start forcing a move.
Still, to send him home only attracts more attention. Granted, it wouldn’t be nice for any player to sit in the stands knowing people are talking about his future, but omitting him from the travelling party entirely raises more questions than answers.
Joelinton wasn’t technically in the Newcastle United squad who lost to Celtic but was still at the ground to watch his team in action.
Having Isak do the same wouldn’t exactly stop the speculation entirely but it would at least offer a more definitive response from the club themselves.
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