A young gun on the rise when he arrived at Borussia Dortmund back in 2017, Sweden striker Alexander Isak has gone from strength to strength and, now with Newcastle United, is one of the hottest strikers in the English Premier League. bundesliga.com takes a look at the former Dortmund man's rise...

Alexander Isak is a name on everyone's lips in England at the moment. Fresh off a goal-and-assist performance in Newcastle's 2-0 League Cup semi-final win over Arsenal, the 25-year-old striker has racked up 15 goals and four assists in 22 appearances this season, playing a key role in his side's seven-match win streak across all competitions.  

The Swede's dazzling on-ball skills and clinical finishing are delighting all concerned in England, but no-one at Dortmund will be too surprised to see him shining so brightly. BVB identified the rangy striker as a future superstar all the way back in 2017, when he was still just 17 and playing his first season with boyhood club AIK's first team. 

Die Schwarzgelben, then coached by a certain Thomas Tuchel, signed Isak midway through that 2016/17 campaign looking to take his raw talent and physical attributes and shape him into a player who could rise to the top of the sport - as the club had done before with the likes of current coach Nuri Şahin, club legends Marco Reus, Marcel Schmelzer and Mario Götze, as well as global superstars Antonio Rüdiger and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. 

Watch: Isak - "Dortmund the right place to develop."

Isak's distinctive 6'2" frame, silky first touch, near-perfect technique and penchant for goals drew lofty comparisons to countryman Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but his former Sweden U17 coach Magnus Wickman saw distinct differences between the two.

"He's a bit shy and very humble," Wickman said of the player born in Stockholm to Eritrean immigrants. "He is a mature person when you talk to him and even more so on the pitch. He's particularly intelligent on the pitch. His pace is quite high but not extreme. He is good with the ball and can link up with other players. He is more dynamic as he enjoys moving around and looking for space in the opposition half."

The maturity Wickman spoke of had already been in evidence when, in January 2017 - just two weeks before signing for Dortmund - Isak first became Sweden’s second-youngest player and then their youngest-ever goalscorer in the space of just two games and five days. 

Isak (r.) celebrates becoming Sweden's youngest-ever senior international goal scorer. - imago/Bildbyran

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Isak made his debut for Dortmund in a 3-0 DFB Cup quarter-final win over SF Lotte in March 2017 and scored his first goal for the club in a 5-3 UEFA Youth League in over no less a club than Real Madrid in September. Although he also turned out for Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League, DFB Cup and UEFA Europa League in the 2017/18 season, the presence of players like FIFA 2014 World Cup winner Götze, Paco Alcácer and Maximilian Philipp limited him to just five Bundesliga appearances for the campaign. 

Isak began to find his feet with the reserves the following season, rattling in five goals and two assists in the first half of the campaign, but it wasn't until January saw him loaned out to Dutch club Willem II that the Swede really hit his straps. With 12 goals in his first 12 league appearances in the Eredivisie, outdid the historical performances of the likes of Ronaldo at PSV Eindhoven and Luis Suarez and Ibrahimovic at Ajax. 

This was exactly what Isak and parent club Dortmund had hoped for when they struck the loan deal but, after the likes of Götze, Reus, rising star Jadon Sancho, Alcácer, Jacob Bruun Larsen and Christian Pulisic had helped Lucien Favre's side to a second-placed Bundesliga finish, it was difficult for the Swiss coach to guarantee Isak first-team minutes on his return from the Netherlands.

The news was something of a blow for the nascent striker, who had been hoping to work more closely with Favre, a coach renowned for developing young talent. However, it turned out that a meeting with Dortmund reserves coach Jan Siewert would prove the turning point that the introverted young Isak needed. Like all of the Swede's coaches, Siewert knew he was bursting with talent but also recognised that, without confidence, the potential star would never be able to impose himself. 

Isak (r.) had hoped to benefit from Lucien Favre's (l.) tutelage in the same way Jadon Sancho (c.) had. - imago/Team 2

The advice hit home for the 19-year-old and he immediately opted to back himself by making a summer move to Real Sociedad - a new country, a new league and a new club. The bold move paid instant dividends, with Isak racking up nine goals and one assist in 37 La Liga appearances for a more-than-creditable return in his first full season in one of Europe's top five leagues. He took that tally to 17 goals and two assists the following season and, after moving to Newcastle for a club-record €70m in the summer of 2022, now boasts a record of 44 goals and eight assists in 70 Premier League appearances.

Meanwhile, Isak has racked up 15 goals in his 50 appearances for Sweden, notably impressing at UEFA Euro 2020, and the future is looking rosy on all fronts for the elegant striker who once called Signal Iduna Park home.  

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Borussia Dortmund

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