Exactly, he could have been brief and to the point. Howe couldn't stop talking about Isak. He could have made up stuff. Just for precaution, the medical staff decided not to play him today.
“Yes I've had discussions with him, but that's not abnormal. I respect a player's career and how short it is. Alex has been really good, he's trained really well and I realise there'll be noise around him.
“I chose to send him home. The last thing Alex wants if he is not playing is to be sat in the stand and under that scrutiny, then if he wasn't going to play today, we mutually agreed he shouldn't be here.
“Has there been any approach for Alex? No, there's been no formal approach."
"We have a few of those players who are irreplaceable. Your top players are so hard to find, so hard to recruit and so hard to develop. So when you have them, you need to treasure them. Of course we're desperate to keep him as part of our team."
“I think it's difficult for me to ever give 100 per cent clarity on any player, I'd never do that. All I can say is Alex is happy at Newcastle, he loves the players, the staff, the team. I've never had any issue with him and I'm confident he's going to be here at the start of the season."
