Newcastle United striker labelled 'priceless' amid contract talks

Dan Burn said “priceless” striker Alexander Isak is one of the best in the world after his two goals helped Newcastle beat Southampton to maintain their Champions League push.

Saturday’s 3-1 victory at St Mary’s saw Isak take his tally to 15 in the Premier League as he scored for the ninth league game in 10. The 25-year-old is reportedly set to be offered a contract extension by the club at the end of the season in order to fend off interest from suitors at home and abroad.

Asked about his value to the side, Burn said: “It’s for the owners to say but he’s priceless to us. I hope he does well but not too well. “The way he moves…you come up against special players but there’s nobody out there that dribbles the way he dribbles.

“Even (former Newcastle winger) Allan Saint-Maximin was something different and he was probably the best dribbler I’ve ever played with. Even the quality, it’s not just dribbling for the sake of it.

“He’s on fire at the moment, probably one of the best strikers in the world at the moment. “It’s hard because it’s hard to defend just the way he moves. He moves his feet quickly but his top half doesn’t really move.”

Newcastle briefly fell behind to the league’s bottom side, Jan Bednarek heading in in the 10th minute before Isak levelled from the penalty spot after being fouled by Joe Aribo. The league’s bottom side quickly crumbled allowing Isak to add his second shortly afterwards from Jacob Murphy’s through-ball.

The best of the goals was scored by Sandro Tonali. Isak chested the ball off to Anthony Gordon who with one touch knocked it through to the former AC Milan midfielder who stroked it into the corner.

It was a 10th win in 11 games in all competitions for Eddie Howe’s side. They sit fifth in the league, outside the top four on goal-difference after fourth-placed Manchester City beat Chelsea, who dropped to sixth. “The gaffer has just said you’ve got to dream what you can do,” said Burn. “We could definitely do something special this season.”

For Newcastle, it was a welcome return to winning ways after Bournemouth ended their nine-match winning spree with a 4-1 win at St James’ Park last weekend. “It was probably just a little bit of a kick that we needed,” said Burn. “We were probably getting too far ahead of ourselves but even at the start of the season when we were inconsistent, we were still just trying to hit our standards.”