The Newcastle striker is considered the Reds’ dream signing, but scoring goals is the least of their worries right nowThe build-up to Newcastle’s Premier League meeting with Liverpool on Monday is obviously going to be dominated by Alexander Isak. A striker in every sense, Isak is the protagonist of the most-discussed transfer saga of the summer so far – and we still don’t have any idea how it’s going to end.All we can say for sure right now is that Isak’s absence is hurting Newcastle. Eddie Howe’s team bossed their season-opener at Aston Villa on Saturday – even before their hosts were reduced to 10 men – but lacked a cutting edge, which was hardly surprising given they had to play a winger, Anthony Gordon, up front.Newcastle are working hard trying to strengthen their attack before the window closes – they wanted another centre-forward even before Isak decided to down tools to try to force through a move to Liverpool – but it’s telling that Howe hasn’t been overly critical of the Swede’s conduct, at least not in public.Recommended external contentVideoWe need your consent to show you content our Editorial team embedded from Video. You can toggle this (and all other embeds from Video across goal.com) on with one click only and deactivate as well.Always display Video contentI confirm that I would like to see external content. Personal identifiable data could be transferred to Third parties. Read more about it in our privacy policy.The manager is clearly still hoping that he can rebuild the bridges that Isak has burned on Tyneside – because he knows full well that Newcastle need Isak. Do Liverpool, though? Because the evening before Newcastle were held to a scoreless draw at Villa, the Reds were involved in a thrilling encounter with Bournemouth at Anfield that suggested that scoring goals should be the least of Arne Slot’s worries right now…
