Newcastle United star set to fly to South Korea alone after squad omission
Newcastle United have arrived in Seoul ahead of matches against Team K-League and Tottenham Hotspur.
Alexander Isak won’t be joining Newcastle United in South Korea - but another player is expected to.
Ahead of flying to Singapore last Thursday for the first leg of their Asia tour, the Magpies confirmed a 30-man squad with Isak’s omission instantly capturing the attention of Newcastle - and Liverpool - supporters.
A “minor thigh injury” was given as the official reason for the Swede’s absence. But it took just a matter of hours to confirm most people’s suspicion - Isak wants to join the Premier League champions.
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An official bid hasn’t arrived yet, but it is said to be coming. After rounding off their visit to Singapore with a 3-2 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday, the Magpies will now spend the week in Seoul, but there’s “no chance” of Isak joining the squad, according to Eddie Howe.
No Alexander Isak - but Newcastle United player is joining up with the squad
Amidst the Isak circus, it took fans an extra few minutes - probably even hours - to realise goalkeeper Martin Dubravka also wasn’t named on the Asia squad list.
Why did the Slovakian miss the first leg of the tour? Well, the reason for that is unconfirmed. But what is confirmed is, as first reported by NewcastleWorld, Dubravka is expected to link up with his teammates in Seoul.
There have been snaps shared on social media over the weekend of Dubravka at Newcastle airport, where he is presumably headed for South Korea.
Dubravka played the second half of Newcastle’s 4-0 defeat to Celtic before (obviously) missing the Arsenal game.
Against the Gunners, Nick Pope played 75 minutes before Howe made the slightly surprising call to bring on 38-year-old John Ruddy ahead of Greece international Odysseas Vlachodimos.
Odysseas Vlachodimos told he can leave Newcastle United
Newcastle are working on a loan move for Vlachodimos, with NewcastleWorld learning that the club have put feelers out to intermediaries in an attempt to sort a move.
In an ideal world, the Magpies would prefer the player to leave on a permanent deal, but that is widely accepted to be near impossible for at least the next few windows.
United are being forced to loan out Vlachodimos opposed to selling him due to the huge transfer fee they paid for him last summer. He joined from Nottingham Forest for a reported £20million with Elliot Anderson heading the opposite direction for £35m in an agreement that saw both clubs comply with Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
Unless they are able to recoup a significant fee for Vlachodimos, any sale would go down as a significant PSR loss on the books.
For example, having paid around £20m for the player and put him on what is believed to be a five-year deal, this summer the Greek will be worth around £16m on the books. In a PSR world, it would mean Newcastle would have to sell him for that figure, in order not to incur a loss on their calculations.
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