Newcastle’s owners will not leave the manager Eddie Howe without a recognised senior striker as the Alexander Isak saga rumbles into the final few days of the summer transfer window.
The St James’ Park hierarchy has to date remained steadfast amid Liverpool’s attempts to prise the 25-year-old Sweden international out of the club, aided by the player’s stated intention to leave.
However, with Callum Wilson having already left and no sign of a replacement arriving – Brentford’s Yoane Wissa currently remains stubbornly beyond Howe’s grasp with João Pedro, Hugo Ekitiké and Benjamin Sesko having already slipped through it – Newcastle find themselves in a difficult situation.
Asked about the prospect of losing Isak without a new recruit in place, Howe said: “I don’t think the club will allow that situation to happen. We certainly can’t go through the season with no recognised striker at the football club – and that’s no disrespect to Will Osula.
“I think he’s doing really well and he’s progressing really well, but he’s got limited experience in the Premier League, although I’m really happy with his career progression.
“But Alex at the moment would be the only striker we have with Premier League history of goals and appearances and starts, so we can’t leave ourselves in that position.”
The 22-year-old Osula has not started a Premier League game since his £10m arrival from Sheffield United last summer, and it was left to Anthony Gordon to line up in a largely unaccustomed central role in last weekend’s 0-0 draw at Aston Villa, one he is likely to reprise against Liverpool on Monday evening.
Asked how challenging it is for Gordon to play as a No 9, something he did to great effect in England’s 2023 European Under-21 Championship-winning team, Howe said: “He’s an attacker and he’s a very good attacker.
“The beauty of Anthony when we signed him was he can play right, left and potentially down the middle, something that he has done before. He’s done it for England, so it’s not something totally new to him.
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“I don’t think anyone can fill Alex’s boots and Anthony will know that himself. He’s not trying to be Alex, he’s got to be himself. If he’d scored against Aston Villa, you’d go, ‘that’s the perfect No 9 performance’. I think he had seven shots in the game, he looked a threat, he got a man sent off.
“He was using his qualities, which are his pace and his dribbling skills, so I thought it was a really good performance from him. Yes, of course we were missing the goal from the team’s overall performance, but hopefully those will come.”
