Newcastle United winger Garang Kuol believes Eddie Howe's high-energy tactical approach has got the best out of Alexander Isak this season, with the striker's 20 goals pushing the Magpies to the brink of qualification for the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League.
Sweden international Isak has gone from strength to strength this season and has been linked with moves to Premier League rivals Arsenal and Liverpool following his hot form -- something that has come as no surprise to the rest of the Newcastle squad.
"I was training with him in preseason. He was just so silky and so comfortable with the ball," Kuol told ESPN. "And so quick. You can't really get the ball off him. He's just so hard to stop.
"The main thing that every Newcastle first-team player has is the fitness and the physicality, which is what's most important.
"When us young players train with the EPL side, it's sort of a rude awakening of the physical demands that comes in training.
"Even just a simple positioning drill, you get tired within a minute and it's just the intensity and the work rate you have to apply and train every day."
Isak played a starring role for Newcastle in its Carabao Cup run and scored the winning goal in the final against Liverpool, with Howe praised for his tactical approach in that game which ended the club's 70-year domestic trophy drought. Newcastle celebrated with a bus parade attended by 150,000 people, as the city went wild.
"The whole city was buzzing. I think the fans had been dying to get a trophy for so long," Kuol said.
"And I think with the fans at Newcastle ... every player just wants to see them celebrate. You just want to do them proud. I think that's the effect the fans have on the team. They're so supportive of us."
While the Australia international has starred in the under-21s and scored eight goals in his last 12 games, Kuol says he might have to leave Newcastle in the summer as he chases senior minutes -- particularly if the Magpies qualify for the Champions League.
"The most important thing for me is to be able to play [senior] football... it won't be that easy to jump from the under-21s at Newcastle to a first-team squad which could be in the Champions League," he said.
"For the summer, I'm not really sure what's going to happen in terms of my next move ... but I'd say [senior] football is the ultimate goal."