Watching Alexander Isak lead the line for Newcastle United is a thrill ride right now.
For those of us who always maintained he could be the best in the world, it feels like vindication to see him slalom through Premier League defences like he has in December.
Truly, there is nothing the guy can’t do. Strength? He’s got it in abundance. Aerial dominance? The timing of his runs is deadly. He’s quick and lethal, rarely missing a one-on-one. Technically those comparisons with Thierry Henry have substance and he has ice in his veins when he steps up for a penalty.
So why is so much of the wider narrative around him so tiresome?
Maybe it’s just early January transfer window froth but the idea that every time Isak scores, he’s being hothoused for a move to Arsenal (the worst offenders) or some other supposedly elite club is becoming really tedious.
Sky Sports sort of hinted at it when Isak appeared in front of the cameras after yet another goalscoring intervention at Old Trafford on Monday night.
The Swede side-stepped it with customary grace but nowhere in the conversation were the salient facts set out: that he has three-and-a-half years remaining on his contract and is going nowhere anytime soon.
That’s right, Isak’s deal expires in 2028. This is not Mohamed Salah moving into the final six months of his contract, or even a player at the peak of his value. It is a good 18 months before market economics will start to make Newcastle’s hierarchy sweat – and who knows where the club might be by then?
If 2024 was the year reality bit at St James’ Park, they are ending the year in a way which suggests they can dream again. Five straight wins in a Premier League where no-one – barring runaway leaders Liverpool – has asserted themselves makes the top five appear a realistic goal.
They are in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup and as Anthony Gordon told The i Paper last week, they aren’t playing like a team auditioning for something supposedly bigger and better.
In Eddie Howe they have a manager who looks better for having navigated, with impressive authority, his darkest run of form in November.
So Newcastle feel emboldened, their Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) caution giving them a platform to retain their best players when opportunity knocks.
Ask the player – as I did back in April – and he’ll tell you straight that he’s not thinking about moving. He’s a man of few words but it felt authentic.
I’ve seen players angling for a move in the past and they are taken out of the interview firing line sharpish. Not Isak.
Of course he’s ambitious. Of course he has to be playing Champions League football soon. He carries himself with that sort of swagger but there’s also a humility about how far he still has to go.
Howe says he knows he has improvements to make – a scary thought but an accurate one given he has only hit fourth gear this month – but believes he can do that in a team brimming with talent like Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali, who embarrassed Manchester United‘s more expensive engine room operators.
Reports this week pitched Newcastle’s valuation of Isak at £150m, but in reality he’s priceless for where they’re going. That’s why transfer talk is missing the point.
