Alexander Isak given work permit green light to make Newcastle United debut at Liverpool

Isak completed a £60million transfer to Newcastle from Real Sociedad last week but has had to wait to make his debut.

Despite Newcastle completing the signing before noon on Friday, the 22-year-old striker was unable to make his debut at Wolverhampton Wanderers due to the lack of work permit approval by the UK Home Office.

As a result, he was forced to watch the match from the stands at Molineux as The Magpies drew 1-1.

Isak had until 6:45pm on Wednesday evening to receive a work permit and be able to play at Anfield.

The Shields Gazette understands that the Sweden international was approved to play for Newcastle early on Wednesday afternoon.

The approval will be welcome news to Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe, who could hand Isak his debut this evening.

“I hope so, I desperately hope so,” Howe said on Tuesday prior to the work permit approval. “It would be great to see him involved but we’re still in the hands of other people. It could go down to the wire.

“We’ve had minimal training with him but we’ve seen flashes of him but he’s certainly an exciting player.”

On the transfer itself, Howe added: “To be honest, it was very quick. There wasn’t necessarily time to sit down and sell my vision and my work to him.

“That had already been done, really, by the time I met with him and spoke with him for the first time. Certainly, now he has joined, I will then be explaining everything to him and showing him how we will develop him while he is with us.”