Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe warned that Alexander Isak will have to “earn the right” to be reintegrated into first-team training after reportedly pushing for a move to Liverpool this summer.
Isak had avoided the transfer glare for much of the summer before Liverpool made an informal approach to sign the forward in the middle of July. Newcastle held firm on their no-sale stance which promptly forced Isak’s hand.
After the club’s star striker was left out of the pre-season squad for their Asian tour, it was claimed that Isak had rejected a new contract at Newcastle and made his desire to leave clear. By the end of July, Isak had travelled to Spain to train alone at his former club Real Sociedad in another attempt to convince Newcastle to negotiate. It hasn’t worked.
The Magpies bluntly rejected Liverpool’s first formal bid of £110 million ($146.3 million) last week and it was reported that Isak has now returned to Tyneside while the Reds mull over a second offer.
However, the Swede will not be welcomed back with open arms. “You have to earn the right to train with us,” Howe seethed to assembled reporters at the end of the pre-season tour. “We are Newcastle United. The player has a responsibility here to be part of a team and part of a squad—you have to act in the right way. So that is also at play here.
“We will make sure that any player does that to earn the right to train with the group. No player can expect to act poorly and train with the group as normal.”
Quite what Isak will have to do to “earn” the right to train again remains to be seen. The 25-year-old’s Spanish sojourn doesn’t appear to have permanently severed any ties with teammates—many of whom have defended their colleague—while Howe offered his own olive branch.
“Of course I’d like him to be [at Newcastle’s training ground], but whether he will I don’t know at this moment in time,” the English manager sighed. “We have been here with the time difference, preparing for training and for games. Other people have been dealing with that situation back at home.”
It will now be on Howe to deal with it. Sky Sports News report that Isak is back on the grass in Newcastle and is set to meet with his manager on Monday following his return from the pre-season trip to Singapore and South Korea.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Alexander Isak Faces Punishment for Standoff in Liverpool Transfer Saga.