Nobody could quite believe what Alexander Isak sounded like when he first spoke following his club-record £63 million transfer to Newcastle United in 2022. The Sweden international arrived from Real Sociedad as something of a “one to watch” for many Premier League viewers, but it didn’t take long for him to prove himself as one of the best strikers in world football.
Fast-forward three years – and 62 goals in 109 appearances later – and the 25-year-old is on the move again, having handed in a transfer request amid rumours of a high-profile switch to Liverpool. If he does join the English champions, he’ll be linking up with a squad already stacked with talent, including Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, and Florian Wirtz under Arne Slot.
At this point, there’s not much Isak can do on the pitch that would truly surprise those familiar with his goal-scoring prowess, but his voice, upon first arriving in England, certainly did.
Alexander Isak’s Surprising Accent
Born in Sweden, he sounds more English than some of his teammates
Newcastle posted a clip of Isak alongside teammates Jamaal Lascelles and Jacob Murphy playing the ‘Guess Who’ boardgame two years ago, and while many were expecting to hear the Swedish-born striker sound Scandinavian, many were surprised to hear a dinstinctly British accent come out of him.
Teasing the full clip, Newcastle posted a 31-second clip on their social media channels of the three having some banter while playing the game. And it’s during that short clip that many football fans heard Isak talk for the very first time.
“When did he go down?” asks Isak during the game, in which you have to whittle down individuals by asking a series of questions based on their appearances.
“Do you know when he went down? I put him down. I said ‘Is he early in for training?’ I saw him on the rower when I came to training. Ten to nine? Some people are here at like seven,” Isak continued as he attempted to understand why his Murphy icon had been eliminated when he was actually the correct answer.
But fans weren’t interested in the intricacies of the Guess Who game, they were only interested in how Isak sounded. “This guy has only lived in England for a year!” one X user remarked, pointing towards the fact he sounded incredibly British. Elsewhere, a second added:
“He sounds like he grew up in London. There is no way he’s Swedish.”
A third continued: “Blown my head clean off. Why does he sound like that?” and a fourth wrote: “Isak caught me off guard with that accent, what on earth?” A fifth also concluded: “Anyone know if Isak speaks fluent Swedish, Spanish and German as well? Because his English is better than mine!”