Newcastle United's Eddie Howe weighs in on Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland debate

Newcastle United’s trip to Premier League champions Manchester City on Saturday will see two of Europe’s best strikers go head-to-head.

Alexander Isak has scored 54 goals in 95 appearances for Newcastle since joining for a club-record £63million from Real Sociedad in the summer of 2022. Erling Haaland joined Man City around the same time and has found the net 117 times in 132 games.

This campaign, Haaland has 19 Premier League goals compared to Isak’s 17.

Erling Haaland vs Alexander Isak

Asked about both players ahead of the game, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said: “When you look at Haaland's consistency over a long period of time, there's no doubting that, and Alex is certainly doing the same.

“Since he's come to this club, I think he's been absolutely sensational for us. We're looking to try and get him in the game as much as we can. I always say the same thing.

“We need to provide the foundation for him to perform at his best levels. Of course, Alex has to perform as well. But in these types of games, he's maybe not going to get loads of chances. But we need to try and get him in the right areas and try and get him the ball in the key areas.”

There arguably hasn’t been a bigger player rivalry in the 21st century than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo during their La Liga days. Asked if Isak and Haaland could be Premier League’s next big one, Howe replied: “That's a left-field one. I don't know. I think all I'd encourage Alex to do is to do what he does. I don't think you can compare him to anyone, really.

“I think Alex is very, very different to any other striker that I've seen or worked with. He does things that aren't your traditional centre forward, what they can do.

“He's very different. He's almost a winger combined into a striker's mentality, I think, because his feet and his footwork and his dribbling ability is so good. That's almost winger-like.

“Then you put him into the middle of the pitch, and obviously with his pace and his technical ability coming to feet, he's got the whole package linked into one, and his finishing this season has been exceptional as well. I think he is himself, he's very unique, and I'd encourage him to be that way.”

Erling Haaland or Alexander Isak?

Howe obviously said Isak... He said: “I love working with Alex, and I said many times I wouldn't swap him for anybody. “We've got a good relationship, he's got a good relationship with his teammates.

“We've tried to help him mould our style of play to suit his game. So, no, I really respect Erling, obviously, and what he's done in his career is unbelievable. But we really love Alex as well.”

More to come from Alexander Isak

“Yeah, I think there's a lot more to come,” said Howe. “I think, again, another traditional standard answer for every player, as well as some individuals may be playing. I would say there's still so much more each player can give and has to give to the team in loads of different ways.

“It might be, for Alex, it might be a different area to another player, but every player can give more and do more and has to have a really open mind to improving. I think that's absolutely vital for their own individual development.

“There's so many different areas and aspects of the game that you can take your game now, with the analysis that we have available at our fingertips. And certainly our job, my job, the coaching team's job, is to try and push Alex now to do even better.”

Hands off Liverpool, Arsenal & Barcelona!

Due to his stellar form and the pressures of Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR), Isak has been regularly linked with a move away from Newcastle, much to the annoyance of supporters.

Arsenal are long-term admirers, while recent weeks have saw Liverpool and Barcelona linked. But Howe has no intention of losing the Sweden international, who is under contract until 2028.

Asked how important Isak is to the long-term success of the club, Howe said: “Yeah, linked to a number of other players really. We have to try and keep our best players and I think that is crucial to short and long term success. Sitting here as manager of the football club, we need to keep the group together and we need to add the other way.

“We haven’t added in a long time for reasons we’ve all discussed but we need to move the team forward and we can’t lose our best players.”

In other news, Pep Guardiola delivers bad Man City injury news - 24 hours before Newcastle United clash.