Eddie Howe knew the time had come to fire up his record signing. Newcastle United were listless during their 3-1 defeat at Fulham on September 21 — and nobody appeared more out of sorts than Alexander Isak.
The Sweden international’s talent has never been in question but those who have worked with the Newcastle striker describe a unique, complex personality — someone who is ridiculously driven, yet can be laid-back and withdrawn, all at once.
The need to “stimulate” Isak, to “really get him going” and provoke him into elevating his levels at the appropriate moment, is something Newcastle coaching staff discuss among themselves.
When Howe feels it is required, he has stepped in and taken a one-on-one approach with the striker, outlining precisely how he can score more goals.
Post-Fulham was one of those occasions. Isak had scored only once across Newcastle’s opening six matches and he had, at times, been peripheral.
Admittedly, Isak had a broken toe and received a painkilling injection to play, but Howe still demanded more from the centre-forward. The head coach delivered a detailed presentation about movement, about where Isak should be and when, and promised he would receive better service if he got into the box more often.
“He was always going to be a star — you could see it, you could feel it,” Matt Ritchie, his former team-mate, says. “He’s so powerful, so quick. But Alex is like a racehorse. To keep Alex on the pitch, he needs (everything) to be perfect.”
Howe’s inducement certainly worked. Since October 27, Isak has scored 21 goals across 24 starts, averaging a strike every 92.5 minutes across all competitions. Only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (22 goals) has scored more than Isak (18) in the Premier League since.
Of Isak’s 19 top-flight goals this season, 17 have come from inside the area and seven have been scored from only eight shots originating from inside the six-yard box. Six of Isak’s goals have also been assisted by Jacob Murphy, with Howe fielding a right-footed right winger precisely with provision for his striker in mind.
“He’s got everything,” Dan Burn, the Newcastle defender, says. “In my opinion, Alex is probably the best striker in the world at the minute.”
The prospect of the 25-year-old being left out of the XI at Wembley on Sunday, for what will mark his 100th Newcastle appearance, is utterly unthinkable. He is Newcastle’s best chance of inflicting damage on Liverpool, a world-class forward who would “fit into any team”, Wayne Rooney told the BBC this week. He is drooled over by the biggest clubs around.
Yet the unthinkable did happen two years ago. It scarcely feels possible now, but in 2023 Isak did not start the 2-0 final defeat by Manchester United, as Callum Wilson led the line.
Isak, right, was on the bench at Wembley two years ago (Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
Isak’s Newcastle goalscoring may now have reached prolific proportions — he has 57 goals from 99 appearances (85 starts) across all competitions, averaging 0.77 goals per 90, and last month he became the seventh-fastest player to reach 50 Premier League goals (76 games) — but two years ago, he was still defined by his potential.
“We always knew he could be elite, that he could be the difference-maker,” says an insider who, like others quoted throughout this article, is speaking anonymously to protect relationships. “He just needed time, dedicated work and then we always believed he would take off.”
This is how Isak came to soar at St James’ Park.
Six months into his nascent career on Tyneside — and having cost Newcastle £20million more than they had ever spent on a player before — Isak was still not established as their first-choice centre-forward when the club last visited Wembley.
Wilson may have managed only two starts this season due to injury but, two years ago, he was still Howe’s “No 1 striker”, according to someone who was privy to the head coach’s decision-making in 2023.
For much of that extraordinary season, when Newcastle also finished fourth in the Premier League, Isak and Wilson pushed each other on, but for the final, neither was in prime shape.
Wilson had suffered fitness issues following the Premier League’s post-Qatar World Cup restart while Isak had missed 13 games between September and January due to a thigh problem. It was a close call but Howe finally settled on familiarity, having worked with the England international for a longer time.
Howe signed Wilson for Bournemouth and the striker was attuned to his head coach’s demands. He had also scored seven goals that season. Although Isak had excelled and scored during his electric debut at Anfield the previous August, he had only returned on January 7 and started just three games in the lead-up.
This time, there is no debate about who starts. Isak is not only the first name on the team sheet: he is Newcastle’s difference-maker and their match-winner. He is their main source of hope.
While Wilson has one goal all season, Isak has 22 across all competitions and averages a strike every 108.4 minutes in the Premier League.
The shot map below displays where Isak has been shooting and scoring from this season (it does not include Monday’s 1-0 win at West Ham United or penalties).
Isak is comfortable shooting with both feet, while 15 per cent of his efforts have been headers. He is also significantly outperforming his expected goals (xG), which measures the quality of his chances. His average shot distance is 14.6 yards, with 88 per cent of his opportunities originating from inside the box.
Iaak is on course to become the first Newcastle player to reach 20 Premier League goals in successive seasons. He is adding the consistency required to be considered genuinely world-class — a status other clubs harboured doubts he could ever reach.
Unlike Bruno Guimaraes and Sven Botman, talented young players Newcastle swiped from under the noses of more established clubs, Isak was very much a known quantity and came with a price tag to match.
He represented a risk — calculated, but a risk nonetheless — given he had already struggled to impose himself in Germany and with a reputation for blowing hot and cold. He had bags of ability and plenty of prospective suitors, in the Premier League and beyond, but most prevaricated. Was he consistent enough? Was he the real deal?
From the start, Howe was convinced — to the point of “obsession”, according to a well-placed source — and the head coach was the driving force behind Newcastle’s interest.
Other strikers were floated by members of the recruitment team but, after poring over footage and receiving detailed feedback, Howe became transfixed. Less than half an hour into watching a match Isak had played against Barcelona, he paused the video and declared Newcastle had to sign him. “He’s the one I want,” was his repeated message.
This was during the summer of 2022, the first off-season window post-takeover, and initially, it seemed as if the then-22-year-old would be outside of Newcastle’s price range. Real Sociedad indicated that Isak’s £75million ($97.2m at present exchange rates) release clause had to be met and, given Newcastle already had Wilson and Chris Wood, it was deemed too expensive to commit such a fee on a player who had only enjoyed one prolific season in any of Europe’s top-five leagues.
After scoring nine goals during his first La Liga season, 17 arrived in 2020-21 at an impressive rate of 0.64 goals per 90. Top sides cast envious glances yet, when Isak’s numbers in San Sebastian dipped in 2021-22 with only six goals, doubts emerged.
Recruitment staff at multiple clubs became concerned that Isak had seemed to struggle in Germany and then dropped off numbers-wise in Spain. “Is he a one-season wonder?” was the question many clubs pondered. There was a reluctance to pay such a sum for someone whose talent was clear, but who had yet to deliver consistently in an elite league.
As the graphic below shows, Isak’s numbers for Newcastle show significant progress from those in Spain.
Mikel Arteta admired Isak and Arsenal contemplated a move in January 2022, only to opt for the more proven Gabriel Jesus the following summer. Real Madrid also considered bidding for Isak in the summer of 2022 but believed the price to be too steep. Manchester City were also tracking Isak at La Real before committing fully to Erling Haaland the same summer.
The hesitation of others offered Newcastle an opportunity — albeit a high-cost one. Yet, had Wilson not succumbed to injury in late August of that year, Newcastle would not have offered a club-record £60m, rising to £63m, for Isak.
Although some at St James’ Park dispute the idea that the acquisition of Isak was a “calculated gamble”, other insiders have labelled it as such.
Post-takeover, while Newcastle have admired the same players as Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal, should any rival them for a signing, the limiting effect of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) means they cannot compete. That has led them to shift to players in the bracket below, often those tracked by top clubs but who have not been acquired due to lingering reservations.
Isak fitted into that category.
Newcastle never doubted his ability. They felt Isak may require time to understand the strength of the Premier League — which coaching staff believe, even now, is an ongoing process — but were convinced the “uncoachable raw ingredients”, as a former staff member puts it, were there.
Glowing scouting reports outlined his pace, technical skills, finishing, one-vs-one ability, dribbling, movement and height — an array of attributes that an individual striker rarely possesses. Deeper analysis of his 2021-22 scoring slump indicated he was not getting into goalscoring positions as frequently, or that he was shooting from 10-15 yards deeper, following a change in La Real’s approach.
There was confidence that Newcastle’s philosophy under Howe would ensure he would receive greater goal-scoring opportunities. Newcastle also held a conviction that they could make Isak fitter and that under Howe’s tutelage — and the coaching staff’s dedication to developing players — he would fulfil his promise.
Howe realised that, given the level of fee, his own future may even be influenced by how Isak performed. But Isak is the striker he wanted, Isak is the striker he got, and Isak is the striker he has elevated to an elite level.
After Isak’s first training session, Howe was already telling staff that Isak was “world class”. He knew Newcastle had signed a gem.
But Howe was not the only one who was immediately impressed. Isak’s new team-mates went up to him after drills to ask him how he had managed to dribble past them and score so easily. “You were thinking straight away: ‘This kid’s got everything’,” Ritchie says.
When one coach saw him shoot for the first time, they were astounded by his “unbelievable” one-touch finishing — which he displayed when scoring just 38 minutes into his debut at Anfield.
That Liverpool performance exhibited Isak’s quality but Howe knew significant work was required to push the striker towards greatness.
Building Isak’s durability was vital. The training intensity in Spain was lower than at Howe’s Newcastle and a specialised strength and conditioning (S&C) programme was established to build Isak. Dan Hodges, the head of performance, and Nick Grantham, the S&C coach, were tasked with making Isak more robust.
“He’ll be the first one to say: ‘I don’t love the gym’ but he’s taken the onus on himself to do the work,” Ritchie says. “He’s not like (Sergio) Aguero, where he’s solid. He’s more like a gymnast. As a young player, you have to evolve because your body’s never been exposed to that and he needed that to be able to meet the Premier League’s intensity.”
While Wilson’s fitness problems have heaped the load on Isak, it has also helped the Swede build physical resilience. Isak has started 25 league games in 2024-25, only two shy of last season and eight more than 2022-23, which has allowed him to find rhythm and confidence.
Sources describe the “tireless” and “bespoke” work with Isak on the training pitch. There have been analysis sessions, meetings with Howe and feedback from other coaches to ensure he never stands still.
Part of this season’s focus has been on building his partnership with Murphy, whose primary attacking role is to find Isak in dangerous areas, and encouraging his team-mates to involve the striker whenever possible. Focus has been placed on honing his movement so he arrives in the six-yard box more regularly. Far from Newcastle being a “one-man team”, Isak is the player who finishes off the work of his team-mates.
“From the minute he signed, the coaches worked on the timing of his runs: where to run, different finishes, everything,” Ritchie says. “It’s about repetition and the amount of work.”
Isak “needs to be constantly challenged”, according to those who have worked with him, and he relishes “creative work”, given he is a creative player. Targets are set for Isak to reach, which he relishes and they keep him engaged.
The striker has bought into Howe’s diligent methods and put the feedback into practice. While he has an “edge” and knows he is good, according to those who have worked with him, Isak also has the humility and desire to improve himself. He is never satisfied.
Graeme Jones, the assistant head coach, oversees sessions with Isak, but it is Howe who places the greatest one-on-one demands upon the forward. There is a perception that Isak almost finds things too easy at times, given his innate ability, so he needs to be roused into an “elevated state of mind”. So, when necessary, Howe has honest conversations with Isak to extract more from him.
“When players first come to this club, it takes time to understand what the manager wants from you,” says Burn. “In and out of possession, (Isak) has really got a grasp of that now and he’s reaping the benefits.”
So are Newcastle. Insiders believe they possess the striker with the best movement in world football, a player who is adept through the middle, as a false nine, dropping deep as a No 10 and also drifting out wide left. “He’s unmarkable,” Ritchie says. “He’s so elegant.”
Jamie Miley, the former Newcastle midfielder, has witnessed Isak “destroy” opposition defenders, in training and matches. “He could run behind every time, he could come deep and ask for the ball, or pull out wide, or he could do all of that in one match,” says Miley. “Alex can do a bit of everything. He’s an absolute joke, so you can see the fear it puts into defenders because they just don’t know how to react.”
Below is a rolling 900-minute average of Isak’s expected goals (xG) per 90 minutes compared to his goals per 90. Tracking the two together allows you to see a player’s goalscoring form vs expectation. The more blue, the more they are scoring above expectation.
This season’s form has featured the largest prolonged purple patch of Isak’s Premier League career — perhaps unsustainably so, given the quality of the chances he is finishing, and, while that sounds negative, it actually points to how clinical he has been, which should offer encouragement for Sunday’s final.
Worryingly for opponents, Newcastle believe there is far more to come.
There are still matches when Isak is on the fringes — Bournemouth, Fulham and West Ham in 2025 — and when his hold-up play disappears, leaving Newcastle toothless up top.
That is why Howe and his coaches cannot allow Isak to relent. His present numbers may be excellent, but they know that if Isak can be coaxed into the right mental space consistently, he can become exceptional.
“A sense of annoyance.”
That is how Darren Eales, Newcastle’s CEO, describes the constant speculation surrounding Isak. “Obviously other clubs would covet such an incredible player,” Eales said this month. “It’s part of football.”
As frustrating as it may be for supporters, the constant links are not going to evaporate heading into the summer.
Arsenal and Arteta’s long-term admiration remains and their need for a centre-forward is acute. Chelsea enquired about Isak last June when Newcastle were racing to comply with PSR and they still like him. Senior figures at Liverpool also greatly appreciate Isak’s talents and, with Darwin Nunez’s future uncertain, they are set to target a No 9.
Barcelona’s priority is to sign a long-term replacement for Robert Lewandowski and Deco, their sporting director, is a big fan of Isak’s goalscoring and his versatility, given he can play on the left.
If Barcelona’s economic situation makes a transfer to Catalonia highly improbable, all potential suitors face a significant financial hurdle if they act upon their long-held interest.
Eales struck a bullish tone regarding Newcastle’s position on Isak, insisting it “would be crazy” to consider selling their best players — especially now the club’s PSR picture has changed and “we’re not under the gun” anymore.
Howe is determined to keep hold of Isak, believing he is critical to Newcastle’s progress and practically irreplaceable, and the club insist they are in a strong position to rebuff interest. Isak still has three years remaining on his deal and, while contract talks have been on hold, Newcastle intend to restart them during the off-season.
Newcastle do not need to sell, nor do they want to, and the belief is it would take a bid well in excess of £100m to even begin to soften their position. Aside from Paris Saint-Germain, who have also been linked, that British-record price tag may well deter suitors.
Longer-term, Newcastle’s prospects of retaining Isak are linked to their ability to regularly qualify for the Champions League. He is already among their top earners and a salary comparable with Haaland or Salah appears beyond their present financial means. Isak’s stance on his own future will also have an influence, but he has not given any indication he wants to leave.
Newcastle are benefiting from their foresight in committing such a sizeable fee to secure Isak and, rather than take another chance by having to replace a now established top-class centre-forward, Howe’s vision is to continue to build his team around the Swede.
As someone who has worked closely with Isak says, “There isn’t a ceiling to what he can achieve,” which is why he is so in demand and why he is borderline priceless to Newcastle. The club that helped him soar must spread its wings and rise with him.
Additional reporting by George Caulkin and Mark Carey
(Top photo: Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
