The stunning transformation of Alexander Isak from shy teenager to ruthless goalscorer | OneFootball

“You don’t get crystal balls in football – but you didn’t need one to see that he was a player that was going right to the top,” says Adrie Koster, the former Willem II boss who worked with Alexander Isak during his loan spell in the Eredivisie in 2019.

Koster knows a thing or two about nurturing precocious talent. The former Netherlands winger was the manager at Ajax when Luis Suarez arrived at the club and watched on as the Uruguayan maverick used his stay in Holland as a springboard for moves to Liverpool and Barcelona.

As he says, you don’t have to be a mystic to see that Newcastle’s Swedish goal machine is on a similar trajectory.

Last Tuesday night, on a bitterly cold night in north London, Isak warmed to his task in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, scoring his 15th goal of the season as Eddie Howe’s side romped to a 2-0 win – their first away win against Arsenal since 2010.

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Isak showed Arsenal what they were missing at the Emirates (Reuters)

When Newcastle’s Premier League season resumes against Wolves on Wednesday night, Isak will go in search of a goal to extend an astonishing seven-match top-flight scoring streak. Jamie Vardy’s record currently stands at 11. It would be no surprise if the 25-year-old challenged it in the coming weeks.

“Vardy beat that record the year we won the Premier League but I remember Henrik Larsson saying that once you’re on a roll you get the feeling that everything you hit is going to go in,” says Paul Balsom, head of performance innovation at Leicester during their title-winning season in 2015-16 and a member of Sweden’s backroom staff for 26 years.

“Henrik would say that he would pull the trigger at times that he might not have previously when he was on that kind of streak. You’re not scared to miss and you start thinking that everything you hit is going to go in.

“The psychology of momentum is so fascinating – it’s there, both as an individual and as a team. He’s flying, and it’s great to see because he’s a really humble young guy and someone who has really taken his game to the next level at Newcastle.”

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The young Isak struggled to settle in Dortmund after leaving Sweden (Getty)

Balsom left his job with Sweden this month, but Isak promises to be around for a lot longer.

He started his career at his hometown club, AIK. In April 2016, at the age of just 16, Isak became the youngest scorer in the history of the Allsvenskan, scoring against an Ostersund side then managed by Graham Potter.

Just eight months later, and with a first international cap tucked safely away – Isak, like so many other young promising players in Europe, not least Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham – moved to Borussia Dortmund.

Watching him now, it’s hard to imagine that the Swede has ever found any period of his football life overly taxing. But that period at Dortmund could have broken many young players. As managers came and went, Isak kicked his heels waiting for an opportunity that never came.

Jan Siewert, the former Huddersfield manager, was the head coach of Dortmund’s second side at the time and offered a consoling arm around a player who was clearly struggling as a teenager, miles from home.

“We met at a coffee bar because I didn’t know much about him. I’d observed the first team but there must have been a reason he wasn’t playing,” he told World Soccer in an interview in 2023. “He was a shy guy, very reserved.

“I showed him two pictures of himself, one of him with Sweden laughing just after he scored, and the other of him sitting on the bench at Dortmund. I asked him what the difference was and, by realising that I was helping him, he opened up.

“He is smart. He knew his skills, but lacked confidence.”

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Isak in action for Spanish club Real Sociedad (Getty)

Enter Willem II, and a spell in the Dutch top flight that would transform his career.

“He came to us during the mid-season break,” says Koster. “We were at a training camp in Marbella and we played a friendly against Dortmund, so we got to see him play live. He made a very good impression so we hired him from Borussia. He was still only 20 but he just needed games. It was a great opportunity for us to bring him in, and a great chance for him as well.

“By the end of the season, he was playing in the Dutch Cup final and was scoring goals regularly in the league. He was fantastic.”

Willem II would lose that final 4-0 to an Ajax side containing Hakim Ziyech, Matthijs de Ligt and Andre Onana. For Isak, though, it concluded a formative period in his development – on and off the pitch.

“He was a young guy but he was tough, mentally and physically,” says Koster. “He had a problem with one of the players [a teammate at Willem II] and I won’t go into details as to how he solved it, but let’s just say it showed he could handle any situation. It was an eye-opener for me.”

Isak’s stay in the Netherlands would be brief. With Dortmund demanding a transfer fee way beyond the club’s budget, he would soon be on his way to La Liga side Real Sociedad.

As he headed to Spain, back home, excitement was building. Although Sweden, like Newcastle, have had to be patient.

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Eddie Howe desperately wants to keep hold of his star striker (John Walton/PA Wire)

“If you look at his record, then everything has happened quite recently,” says Balsom. “His graph of progression is almost textbook. He didn’t set the world alight in Germany, he did OK in Spain but now look at everything that is happening to him. He has got stronger. If you think back to last season, he wasn’t completing many games, he got a couple of injuries.

“But now he’s the all-round forward, he doesn’t just run in behind, he can go out wide, he can take players on and also track back. He hasn’t really delivered for the national team yet but with him, [Viktor] Gyokeres and Dejan [Kulusevski], the future for Sweden couldn’t be brighter.”

Things are looking pretty rosy on Tyneside, too. Although perhaps Newcastle fans should make the most of him while they can.

“He’s a player who can go on to play at the very highest level,” says Koster. “Whether that’s with Newcastle or another club, he’s a player who belongs in the Champions League.”