The official reason Alexander Isak is out for Newcastle United at Celtic after Liverpool transfer link
Newcastle United face Celtic in pre-season this afternoon with Alexander Isak not included in the squad.
Isak and Joelinton are both absent from the Newcastle matchday squad after spending the week training in Austria.
Joelinton has been recovering from a knee injury that ended his 2024/25 season prematurely, while Isak withdrew from the Sweden squad last month due to an ongoing groin issue.
Newcastle played their first pre-season match against Carlisle United last weekend, securing a 4-0 win with Joelinton amongst the scorers.
According to Newcastle, Isak and Joelinton are absent from the matchday sqaud at Celtic as their minutes are being managed in pre-season ahead of the trip to Singapore and South Korea.
Following the match at Celtic Park, where Newcastle will be backed by 10,000 travelling supporters, the club travel to Singapore to face Arsenal on July 27 before travelling to South Korea for matches against a K-League XI on July 30 and Tottenham Hotspur on August 3.
Newcastle end pre-season with a Sela Cup weekend at St James’ Park as they host Espanyol and Atletico Madrid on August 8 and 9 respectively. Eddie Howe’s side open the Premier League season at Aston Villa on August 16 (12:30pm kick-off).
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Alexander Isak transfer speculation
Newcastle insist Isak’s absence is purely fitness-related after a week of transfer speculation surrounding the striker.
The 25-year-old was subject to serious transfer interest from Liverpool this past week but Newcastle have stood firm in wanting to keep the striker. As a result, Liverpool have made a move for Eintracht Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike, who had also been targeted by Newcastle this summer.
As things stand, Isak is expected to travel with the squad to Asia for Newcastle’s main pre-season tour.
Newcastle United team news v Celtic
While Isak and Joelinton are missing, new signing Anthony Elanga is set to make his non-competitive debut for the club at Celtic Park.
The 23-year-old joined from Nottingham Forest for £55million last week as Newcastle’s first major summer signing. He has been named on the bench for the match but is likely to come on.
Eddie Howe has also called up Under-21s trio Travis Hernes, Sean Neave and Anthony Munda for the match.
NUFC XI v Celtic: Pope; Trippier, Schar, Botman, Targett; Guimaraes, Miley, Willock; J. Murphy, Barnes, Osula
Subs: Dubravka, Ruddy, Lascelles, Tonali, Gordon, Krafth, Elanga, Ashby, Burn, A. Murphy, White, Hernes, Munda, Neave