Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak has told club officials he will not play for the team again and will refuse to reintegrate with Eddie Howe’s squad, multiple media outlets reported on 12 August. Isak, 25, has moved out of his home in the North-East and is training separately as he attempts to engineer a transfer to Liverpool before the 1 September deadline. The forward’s stance comes after Newcastle turned down a £110 million offer from Liverpool earlier in the summer, with the Tyneside club valuing their leading scorer at roughly £150 million. While Newcastle maintain the Sweden international is not for sale, Howe has already ruled him out of Saturday’s Premier League opener at Aston Villa. Liverpool, which begins its campaign a day earlier against Bournemouth, is weighing whether to return with a record Premier League bid as it looks to bolster an attack thinned by recent departures. The impasse leaves Newcastle needing to decide whether to hold firm or secure replacements before month-end, and raises the prospect of one of the league’s most prolific forwards sitting out the early part of the season unless a resolution is reached.