Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has revealed that the door remains open for Alexander Isak to return to action with the team.
The Sweden forward has been at odds with the Magpies and is unwilling to play for the club, as he continues to pursue a transfer to Liverpool.
Isak was left out of Newcastle’s preseason tour of Asia and has trained away from the first team squad since the Reds registered their interest in him.
The Magpies rejected a £110 million bid from the Premier League champions for his services last month and have shown no interest in selling their prized asset.
“Nothing has changed, the door is well and truly open”, Howe said on Saturday.
“He has to decide what he wants to do. We would like a resolution. We need that clarity. You don’t need any kind of distraction.
I am not in control of that. There is one person who can control that. Let’s wait and see. I have made my stance clear. I am concentrating on the team.”
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”, he added.
Isak joined Newcastle from Real Sociedad in a club-record deal in 2022 and was influential as they won the Carabao Cup last season, ending their 70-year trophy drought.
The Magpies were held to a goalless draw in their 2025-26 EPL opener against Aston Villa on Saturday, although Howe refused to blame the result on the absence of their star man.
“I don’t think it’s the narrative we want to go down,” Howe continued.
“Because it’s easy to say, but you’ve got no way of knowing if that’s the case.
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.”
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