IF there was an award for Run of the Season, it would win it hands down. Picking the ball up close to the halfway line, Alexander Isak breaks past Ben Godfrey as he darts down the touchline.

Having approached the byline, he turns away from Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane before spotting a gap between the two Everton defenders and bursting through it. Next, faced with Godfrey for the second time in the move, he surges beyond the flummoxed Everton full-back, hugging the goalline, and slides the ball across the face of goal for Jacob Murphy to tap in at the far post.

Elegant, effortless, exhilarating. Isak has made quite some impact during his first season as Newcastle United’s club-record signing, to the extent that comparisons are increasingly being made with another overseas import that illuminated the Premier League with his silky skills and dynamic finishing.

Isak has a long way to go before he can come close to emulating Thierry Henry, but in the way that he glides in from the left touchline, deftly dropping his shoulder to throw off opposition defenders, and caresses the ball into the net from any kind of distance, there are definite similarities between Newcastle’s Swedish striker and one of the English top-flight’s all-time greats. To lend further weight to the comparison, it is also a happy coincidence that like Henry before him, Isak is performing his attacking heroics with the number 14 on his back.

“I can see the comparisons (with Henry),” said an ebullient Eddie Howe. “Everyone is different, there’s no two players the same, but I think he has some of the characteristics that Thierry had. He’s certainly got the speed, and is a similar build and frame. The footwork for the assist against Everton was truly remarkable really. I think he’s got a lot of potential to improve and get better, but it’s been a great start for him.”

Newcastle’s recruitment team, of which Howe is a key part, clearly felt they were getting a player with huge potential when they signed Isak from Real Sociedad last summer, hence their willingness to shell out a club-record £63m fee. But could they really have envisaged the 23-year-old making such a powerful impact in his first season on Tyneside, especially when he was forced to sit out a big chunk of the first half of the campaign through injury?

“I don’t think you ever know with absolute certainty,” admitted Howe. “I think anyone who says that would be lying because until you work with a player and see them close up every day, I don’t think you ever really know what their true capability is. But I think we’ve been very impressed with everything he’s delivered to this point – not just technically on the pitch, but also his character and how he’s handled certain situations too. He’s been first class.”

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And yet because of the strength of competition in the attacking areas, most notably from his fellow forward Callum Wilson, and with Howe reluctant to adapt his formation to accommodate two out-and-out strikers, Isak finds himself in a position where he is not even guaranteed a starting spot in the Newcastle team.

He dazzled as he scored two goals in last weekend’s 6-1 thrashing of Tottenham, yet found himself on the bench as Newcastle put four goals past Everton on Thursday, with his run for Murphy’s goal illuminating the 14 minutes he was afforded as a substitute.

Wilson is experiencing the same thing in reverse, claiming two goals in the 5-1 away win at West Ham, only to be return to the bench three days later when Howe took his side to Brentford.

The Newcastle head coach admits he is having to perform something of a juggling act at the moment, but to his credit, he appears to be keeping both of his forwards happy despite their split shifts.

He has experienced something similar in the past, and while comparing Isak to Brett Pitman might not have quite the same gravitas as likening the Swede to Henry, the fact that Howe has had to juggle game time between a young emerging forward and a more experienced marksman in the past can only be a help as he attempts to maintain the current equilibrium until the end of the season.

“To a lesser degree, I had a similar situation at Bournemouth,” said Howe. “The year we won the Championship, I had Yann Kermorgant and Brett Pitman, and they basically shared the second striker role.

“Both of them had outstanding seasons and scored 15 goals apiece. I sort of had to balance their roles – Yann was in his 30s at that stage, whereas Brett was younger and desperate to play. I had to manage those two players. That’s a similar situation where we were free-scoring, and whoever I put in seemed to score.

“I think there’s a real confidence about the group of players we have. Regardless of who we pick at the moment, it seems as though that confidence is there in the group.”