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‘Things happened’ - Newcastle United player pauses on Alexander Isak question before Liverpool clash Alexander Isak will return to Newcastle United next weekend for the first time since his controversial £125million exit. Dan Burn believes it would be foolish for Newcastle United to focus too much attention on Alexander Isak next weekend, One of the most contentious transfer sagas in recent times saw the Swede desecrate his Tyneside legacy last summer. Isak downed tools - refusing to train or play - to force through a £125million move to Liverpool. Previously worshipped at St James’ Park, the 26-year-old is now persona non grata among the Toon faithful. He returns to Newcastle for the first time on the opening day of the Premier League season. ‘Things happened’ - Dan Burn Speaking after the Magpies lost on penalties to Strasbourg in their final pre-season fixture, Burn - appointed new club captain on Saturday - claimed Newcastle fans will not need extra motivation to face Isak. He paused before diplomatically declaring that the team cannot solely focus on the striker. “Obviously, a lot of things happened with the Alex transfer - the fans don't need motivation for that,” Burn said. “But I think if you're only concentrating on Alex we're making a mistake. I think Liverpool are a very good team, a team that we've not managed to beat in the league yet. “That we want to change. But it's a very exciting game at the start of the season. As I said, they're always the best games against Liverpool at home, so I'm looking forward to it.” Can Newcastle United peak vs Liverpool? Burn also echoed Matthias Jaissle’s comments that Newcastle will not peak against Liverpool. He added: “We're not going to peak against Liverpool. I think the manager said that it'll take time to embed the things he wants to do because there's always differences with managers and the way they want to do things. “We've probably not had as much training time as we would have liked, so we've got a good week this week, which I'm sure we'll learn a lot. But from the two games I've seen this weekend, I'm confident that we'll be ready for Liverpool and I don't think you need any motivation for a Liverpool home game.”