Alan Pardew reveals Alexander Isak concern at Newcastle United

With Liverpool having all-but-confirmed they’re signing Hugo Ekitike, many Newcastle United fans will have hoped that the ‘Isak could leave Newcastle soon’ rumours were over for another window.

However, those hopes were quickly dashed over the weekend as uncertainty lingered on, with agent quotes emerging alongside Al-Hilal links.

Isak was notably absent on Saturday afternoon against Celtic, having been sent home by Howe to shield him from the constant press speculation and attention.

One former Newcastle manager has now weighed in on the ongoing debacle, highlighting just how unsettling it’s become in the past week.

Pardew: “They’ve got a battle on there”

Speaking on talkSPORT, former manager Alan Pardew believes that Isak has been greatly affected by the ongoing transfer talk surrounding him, and may even have had his head turned elsewhere.

“Reading between the lines, it looks very much like the player’s affected, I would suggest. So, Eddie made a sensible move and just took it out of the equation.”

“When players want to move they make it fundamentally clear in their actions and can cause a problem.”

“Has Isak’s head been turned? I would suggest possibly yes, so they’ve got a battle on there.

”Eddie’s trying to play it down but it won’t go away until Liverpool conduct their business.”

Does Pardew have a point?

Though there’s no definitive answer as to whether or not Isak and his agent are discussing a potential move, the fact it’s even a rumour that’s enough to see him miss out at Celtic should be enough cause for concern for Eddie Howe and co. this summer.

Earlier in the window, the reluctance of players like Dean Huijsen to properly entertain a move to us saw us grow cold on certain targets: if you’re not 100% committed to us as a project, then you may not be worth our time.

Alexander Isak is a different story, however. A player with a genuine case for being our best player post-Alan Shearer, a lot of our future success does hinge on him staying at the club.

New contract talks need to replace exit rumours, as this layer of uncertainty is only adding to a complete mess of a summer so far.