Alexander Isak: Why Eritreans want striker to remain at Newcastle United

While Isak was born in the Swedish capital Stockholm, he has previously talked of his pride in his heritage.

“Even though I grew up in Sweden, there is a big Eritrean community. I was always around, and raised, in that type of environment,” he said in an interview with Newcastle and Premier League legend Alan Shearer.

Isak is the first player with links to the small nation in the Horn of Africa to shine in world football, and many Eritreans at home and abroad see him as an ambassador for their country.

“It is great to see someone with Alexander’s status come here,” Mehari Estifanos, a former Eritrean player and national youth team coach who now lives in Newcastle, told the BBC.

“People in this area had little knowledge of Eritrea, but after Alexander arrived many people know where it is and [about] Eritrean culture.”

Estifanos says Isak has inspired youngsters in the diaspora to take up football, and some are already in academies in England and elsewhere in Europe.

That development is all the more important given the fact the game in Eritrea has deteriorated to such an extent that world governing body Fifa dropped the national side from its rankings last year.

In recent years headlines have only been made when players have absconded while on international duty.

The Eritreans living on Tyneside and in the surrounding areas feel it is their duty to support Isak, and the country’s red, green and blue flag is a common sight when Newcastle are in action.

“Alexander is an Eritrean ambassador just like the famed cyclists Biniam Girmay and Daniel Teklehaimanot” said Akale.

“All of us are proud of him. Even [on] his boots are one Swedish [flag] and the other Eritrean.”