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Sky Sports’ North East reporter Keith Downie has provided an update on Alexander Isak’s pre-season exclusion.

The Swedish forward did not travel with Eddie Howe’s squad to Singapore for their pre-season tour.

It has been reported that it was due to a minor thigh injury that also caused Isak to train alone this week.

Now Keith Downie has revealed that the 25-year-old has certainly been affected by the transfer talk, and that his omission from the travelling squad was not planned:

“Newcastle say Alexander Isak hasn’t travelled to Singapore due to a minor thigh injury, and it’s best served not having to face long-haul travel with three games in 12 days,” the reporter wrote on X.

“But there’s no doubt the striker has been affected by interest from Liverpool and club bosses are going to have to work hard to get him into a strong headspace going into the season – he’s still a Newcastle player.

“Eddie Howe said at the weekend he fully expected Isak to travel to Singapore for NUFC’s pre-season games, so this omission wasn’t initially planned.”

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