Alexander Isak must win over Newcastle’s new head coach Andoni Iraola to repair a damaged relationship when he steps back onto St James’ Park on Sunday. The ground will offer no easy exit. Visiting coaches pull into a narrow, covered lane behind the Milburn Stand, climb painted steps and thread past little more than portable barriers into a tunnel where familiar staff stand along the route to the away dressing room. For a player who precipitated one of last summer’s most bitter exits, that short walk will feel exposed.
Isak’s record in black and white counts in his favour, 54 goals in 86 Premier League appearances and the decisive strike in Newcastle’s 2025 Carabao Cup final win over Liverpool at Wembley. Yet his north-east legacy is complicated. Last August he staged what the club treated as a form of unilateral industrial action to force a £125m transfer to Liverpool. On 25 August he remained inside his rented Northumberland mansion while Newcastle lost 3-2 to Liverpool. By 1 September he was already at Anfield, shaking hands with Arne Slot and Mohamed Salah. Teammates and supporters were left to circle a season haunted, as one writer put it, by images of “a man who wasn’t there.”
Preparation was imperfect and a broken leg in December compounded a difficult debut campaign on Merseyside. Those setbacks mattered, but so did the summer’s politics. On 19 August Isak failed to attend the PFA awards and posted on Instagram, “When promises are broken and trust is lost, the relationship can’t continue.” Newcastle repeatedly said he would be “reintegrated,” but talks between a delegation from the Saudi Public Investment Fund and Isak at his Darras Hall home on 25 August ended without agreement. Five days later Nick Woltemade arrived from Stuttgart for £69m, and 48 hours after that Isak was a Liverpool player. Hugo Ekitiké moved to Anfield for £69m from Eintracht Frankfurt, while Newcastle reinvested £55m on Yoane Wissa.
The transfer upheaval coincided with absences and boardroom churn. Darren Eales was on medical leave, Paul Mitchell had left after a power struggle and Andy Howe was promoted into senior recruitment. New signings arrived with mixed returns, Wissa suffered knee trouble and Woltemade struggled to fit into a central role. By season’s end several key players felt disillusioned and were contemplating their futures, and Newcastle’s campaign nosedived to a disappointing 12th.
All of that frames Isak’s return. The crowd at St James’ Park will also be marking the death of Kevin Keegan in July, with visible tributes on and around the pitch. That outpouring of affection will sit alongside memories of last summer’s rupture, making for an unpredictable reception. Isak now has a simple brief: produce the form that once made him unplayable, persuade Iraola he belongs in the project and quiet a dressing room that remains divided. Sunday will show whether the striker can start that repair.
