Newcastle United hold 'positive talks' with 31-goal striker Chelsea & Arsenal want

Isak’s impressive form in 2024 has seen him rise into the conversation regarding the best ‘No. 9’ in world football. The 25-year-old has scored 31 goals for club and country in 2024 heading into Monday’s final game of the calendar year at Manchester United (8pm kick-off).

A slow start to the season that saw Isak suffer a broken toe and score just once in Newcastle’s opening 10 matches of the season. But since returning from injury, Isak now has 11 goals and three assists in his last 12 games for the club.

While Howe admitted he wouldn’t swap Isak for any striker, he stopped himself from labelling his No. 14 as ‘the best in the world’.

“It's not something I waste my time thinking about to be honest,” he said. “I understand you have to!

“My biggest thing with Alex is that I'm evaluating his game on a daily basis, a weekly basis and I just want to try and push it. I'll let everyone else see where he is in the pecking order of world football but his game is in a good place at the moment.

“My job is not to sit back and appreciate that, it's to try and find areas that you can improve, pushing towards that and never stop pushing because he has all the ingredients in there. But football never stops changing and he needs to evolve and change with it.

Howe added: “I think there's a lot more to come from him and it's our job to help him deliver that but the main responsibility is on Alex to keep his focus and ignore all the plaudits. I'd say the same if he was in a bad moment, in terms of ignoring the criticism and focus on what you're doing.

“He's got to play his part in helping the team, you can't be selfish and it's got to be about the team and about Newcastle he plays his part in that.” 

Isak has been subject to plenty of transfer interest since arriving at Newcastle with the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal keen on the Swede. Isak remains contracted at Newcastle until 2028 and Howe rubbished any suggestion that talks regarding a new deal had ‘stalled’.

“I don't think the contract talks started so I think that's the issue,” Howe explained. “If you're going to say they stalled and they've never started, that's a problem.

“The contract, I'm sure when the time comes, that will be discussed by Alex's representatives and the football club but I don't really know too much more than that.

“He's motivated and he wants to do well, he's got big aspirations with his career and he's still relatively young so he's got hopefully a really bright future ahead of him. I know his desire to score goals is second to none.

“Every conversation I've had about Newcastle and concerning his future with him has been very positive. I'd love for him and our other players to be the ones who contribute to us winning a trophy. That's the aim.”

The Magpies are pole position to tie Isak down to a new deal rather than lose him to a rival, particularly if they qualify for the Champions League once again.