Alexander Isak has taken the Premier League by storm with his exciting form for Newcastle United in the 2024/25 season. The 25-year-old is enjoying a prolific campaign where he continues to prove his mettle as a reliable goalscorer and unpredictable threat in the opposition final third.
The Swedish striker has already bagged 13 goals and three assists in 18 Premier League games this season. He seems poised to surpass his personal best of 21 goals in the previous league campaign. Isak might be attracting interest from major clubs such as Arsenal and be one of the most coveted forwards in world football, but life hasn’t been so exciting for him all the time.
The Swedish forward comes from humble beginnings and is the child of Eritrean parents, who had to migrate to Sweden in the aspiration of providing a better life for him and his brother Sened.
The forward was born on 21 September, 1999 in Solna, Sweden and was raised in the Solna Municipality, which is situated in central Stockholm County. Solna is the third smallest municipality in terms of area in Sweden and it has had a generally high number of immigrant population, with census reports claiming that 38.9% of Solna’s popularity were of foreign citizens in 2017.
Isak grew up in the estate of Bagartop, a place on the other side of the train tracks connecting Stockholm to the rest of the country. He grew up in a tower block in Bagartop, but his home was also only a 10-minute walking distance from the Friends Arena – the home of the Swedish national team as well as top division club AIK Solna.
Fortunately for Isak, there was a small football pitch nearby where he lived and that only attracted the natural born footballer in him. He started playing football seriously from the age of five and his heroics on the pitch caused AIK to snap him up into their youth academy when Isak was only six.
Isak attended the Solna Gymnasium secondary school whilst growing up, but it was clear from his youth years that he was more interested in sports than any academy pursuits. His PE (physical education) teacher Christer Corpi spoke of his sporting qualities in 2021, stating: “I have never had a student who has jumped 1.75m in high jump without ever training. He absolutely destroyed everyone in table tennis as well.”
Despite being a standout sportsperson, Isak was never arrogant in behaving with other schoolmates as another teacher Ann-Cathrin Life noted: “All the guys at ‘the pitch’ looked up to him, especially the younger ones. I noticed how respectful he was towards the younger players. A nice person, simply put. He was a negotiator if there was a conflict. He could get angry and irritated like everyone else but he had a calm aura.”
Isak started to make waves at the youth level at AIK, becoming the talk of the town for the Solna-based club’s youth coaches. He managed to really stand out among the youngsters at the age of 14, as his coach Elie Mineirji claims: “First of all he had talent of course. but he was also a good passer, could read the game and had a game awareness that not many had at that age. If we had exercises with one or two touches he was the one who was the best. The only thing that was missing then was the desire to be the best but we talked a lot about that when he was 14, with him and his parents.”
That is why he was fast-tracked to the senior level and made his debut at the age of 16 for AIK. He also became their youngest-ever goal-scorer at the age of 16 years, 199 days on 7 April, 2016. Isak ended up scoring 10 goals in 24 league games for AIK in 2016, before Borussia Dortmund noticed his quality and signed him in early 2017.
But for the Swedish forward, his experiences growing up in Solna and the encouragement he received at AIK will be vital for shaping him to be the sensation he is today. Isak is fortunate enough that his qualities were enhanced and unlocked by quality youth coaches, and he has his humble beginnings to thank for keeping him grounded amidst his meteoric rise at Newcastle United.
