Eddie Howe says that this season he only wants to be players in his Newcastle team who 'really wants' in the club, in a first indication that he could be open to the sale of Alexander Isak.
The Swede does not train with his teammates and will not play in the Premier League opener in Aston Villa next weekend after he has announced it at Howe and the club that he wants to become a member of Liverpool.
That step will not happen until Newcastle returns at least one replacement striker and the Premier League champions with an acceptable offer – A £ 110 million bid was rejected last week. The ideal scenario of Howe is that Isak changes his mind and decides to stay, but he knows that that is unlikely.
And the head coach admitted that players who don't want to be in the club are not what he wants.
“I think everything is in the game (Isak stays or goes), because he has been contracted to us, he is our player,” said Howe.
'The club actually makes the decision about his future. I don't know what that will be. Of course I have a preferred result. I want the best and strongest team to be possible. But I also want players who really want to play for this football club. '
Howe was asked if he could convince Isak to stay.
“If it were that easy, I would do it, and I would have done it yesterday, but it isn't,” he said.
The Newcastle boss revealed on Friday evening that, after conversations with Isak, it was clear that he could not train with the team or play in matches.
Howe repeated: 'I want him to train and I want him to play for us. So I think you can see my need and wish. But it has to be right from both sides. '
Ultimately, the decision to sell Isak is based on the Saudi owners of the club. The message of the top remains that he is not for sale, but there is also an acceptance among some that an exit, in the conditions of Newcastle, could be the best for the club in the future, and that is why they have the will of Joao Pedro, Hugo Ekitike and Benjamin Sesko as replacements for the 25-year-old.
Howe said: 'That (decision to sell Isak) will be for other people to make. I think for me, I just try to manage the situation and manage the team, especially. To manage the group of players that I work with every day, which I coach and help, and we concentrate on Aston Villa. Everything, to a certain extent, from my perspective, is not under my control, so it's not my focus. '
Newcastle was beaten 2-0 on Saturday by Atletico Madrid, as they deregister from the preseason with four defeats and two draw from six games.
There was an injury bang when Anthony Gordon, who will deput for Isak in Villa Park, apart, but how we said: 'We hope he is good. I think he has an ankle problem. The good news is that it was just a turn. So the first feeling is that he should be fine. '
There was still some good news outside the field, in which Milan defender Malick Thiaw started on Tyneside for a medical after the clubs matched a £ 34.3 million deal.
But the priority will soon switch to signing a striker, since it was stated that supporters will be concerned about the absence of a 'goal scorer' who is going into the new campaign.
“I think that in the games for the season would be an honest assessment,” he said. 'I don't think I think differently, but we can still win football matches.
“We have to turn the margins and the small things in our favor, so we have to look across the board at how we can get more goals in the team, and that has always been part of the coach's job, to find a way to win – that's what we have to do.”
From the turbulent summer and the potential impact on the Newcastle season, Howe added: 'I have always tried to retain a very balanced image of things, it is never as good as you think it is when you feel good, and it is never so bad if you think it is bad when you feel bad.
'At the moment I am very neutral. I have seen the challenges and I know the challenges we are confronted with. This is a new territory for us, but I also believe from those difficult moments that you can actually build something more special, if you come the other way, and that is a big like.
“So for me the priority is now the players that we fit and have available, and ensure that they fully understand what is expected of them and ensure that we are resilient enough to tackle a lot of external noise, a lot of speculation about us, which is not negative due to our debt, and we have to cut it out and become even stronger.”