Isak returns to St James' Park as a Liverpool striker after £125m exit

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Striker must win over new head coach after tough first season at Liverpool – starting on Sunday at an inhospitable St James’ Park

When Liverpool’s team bus turns a tight corner and inches down the narrow, covered, access road behind Newcastle’s Milburn Stand on Sunday, Alexander Isak will know there are no hiding places. After that coach pulls up, its occupants must navigate a set of painted steps before reaching the glass-doored sanctuary of the players’ entrance at St James’ Park. It is a short climb but only a handful of portable metal barriers separate visiting sides from congregated Newcastle fans. When particularly disliked opponents arrive, it can all feel loudly claustrophobic.

Once inside, Isak, who spent most of last summer staging a form of unilateral industrial action in order to force a £125m move from Tyneside to Merseyside , must negotiate a human chicane of once-familiar club staff stationed along the route to the away dressing room. If eye contact may be minimal, two factors should soften the pre-match mood surrounding his first return to St James’ Park. Eddie Howe has been replaced by Matthias Jaissle and the latest meeting between Newcastle and Liverpool will play out against an outpouring of love for Kevin Keegan, following his death in July .

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