'He's been through some rough things': Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes speaks out about Alexander Isak situation from Singapore
First off, an apology. Yes, we're still talking about Alexander Isak, and unfortunately for us Newcastle United fans, that's probably not going to change for a while.
Newcastle's No. 14 has told the club that he wants to explore the possibility of leaving this summer, with Liverpool very keen to take him off our hands.
In the meantime, Isak has stayed behind while the squad has jetted off to Singapore for a pre-season tour of Asia, suggesting that while he may not be pushing for a move, something is in the offing.
The official line from the club is that he's injured, but if you're buying that story, I have some magic beans you can buy too.
Bruno says Alexander Isak has been 'through some rough things'
Bruno Guimaraes and Dan Burn spoke to the media (via The Chronicle) while out in Singapore, and while Burn said that any player leaving would impact the squad, he wouldn't be drawn on the speculation. Guimaraes, was also quite diplomatic with his response, but also gave a bit more insight into Isak's frame of mind right now.
"We all know the situation behind him, but it's not for me to speak about him. It is something that the club will take care of.
"We want to keep our best players. Want I was to say is that, I don't know what this club is seeing, but for us he's not here because he's in treatment in Newcastle.
"I’m really close to him (Isak). He’s a good guy. He’s been through some rough things at this moment. My focus is with the lads. Isak is something I cannot control. The club has control of it.
"I hope he’s going to be fit when we come back to Newcastle to prepare for the new season.
"They told us he was there in Newcastle because of his injury. Of course, he’s a top player for us, and he’s going to be a miss on this trip. We need him ready as soon as possible."
We admire Bruno's confidence that Isak will be waiting for him in Newcastle, as misjudged as it feels
He may well be fit when you return to Newcastle, Bruno, but our guess is that he won't be there; he'll have miraculously healed and passed his medical at Liverpool by then.
We're pretty much at the point now where we feel it makes way more sense for us to let Isak go. The fanbase is starting to turn against him amid all of this, ourselves included - we don't want to, but he's not helping the situation.
At the end of the day, Isak is just another player, and as much as we love him and appreciate everything he's done in his three years here, we had heroes before him and we'll have plenty more after him, too. That being said. If somehow he does stay at the club, we hope that even the more jaded of us still get behind him next season. Let's not Trent Alexander-Arnold this situation. We're better than that!
