Liverpool landed Alexander Isak in a £130 million deadline day deal(Image credit: Getty Images)
Liverpool’s eye-catching summer spending spree has seen the bookies double down on their pre-season installation of Arne Slot’s team as title favourites.
The Reds cantered to the Premier League title last season, finishing ten points clear of Arsenal in second, but after dropping £415m in the summer transfer window, the club is clearly not resting on its laurels.
Top of Liverpool’s summer acquisitions was the £130m deadline day signing of Alexander Isak from Newcastle United, a deal that former Reds forward John Aldridge believes will give them another dimension in attack.
Aldridge on Isak’s Anfield arrvial
Aldridge – ranked at no.44 in FourFourTwo’s list of the greatest Liverpool players ever – has watched Isak’s career closely, with the Swedish striker spending three seasons at Real Sociedad before he joined Newcastle – a club the 66-year-old knows well after they changed their recruitment policy to sign him from Liverpool in 1989.
“It can be a really tough place for an outsider,” he tells FourFourTwo. “In my first press conference, a journalist asked me how I felt that none of the fans wanted me. Supporters then graffitied ‘F**k off, Aldridge!’ at the training ground, which was nice.
“Things have calmed down since then, but there’s still pressure on foreigners because there is an academy full of brilliant local kids who want that shirt, and communities that want to see them playing. There’s only one way to win them round – by performing. As a striker, that means running your socks off and scoring goals.”
Isak needed five games to score his first goal at Sociedad, with questions being asked about whether he could handle the step up from Willem II.
“He’d impressed in the Netherlands, but La Liga is a different kettle of fish,” Aldridge, who still regularly visits his old club, continues. “Physically, he wasn’t quite there yet. He’s a tall lad and always had speed, but he needed to pack a bit more meat on his bones.
“You could see that he had great movement and a smart football brain – he was a lovely, natural player. He started growing in confidence as the season progressed, and the fans were ultimately rewarded for their patience with him.
“Over the course of his time in Spain, he just got better and better in front of goal. He already had great movement and dribbling ability, but he added that ice-cold instinct that all the top strikers have. His hold-up play improved and he was dovetailing really nicely with the local lads. The fans accepted him as one of their own.”
By the summer of 2022, Isak was 22 and being chased by some of the biggest clubs on the continent once more – Newcastle paid a club-record £63m to bring him to St James’ Park.
“He wasn’t the finished article, and some saw it as a bit of a risk,” Aldridge adds. “But those who watched him in Spain knew that Newcastle were getting a player with huge potential. I’d also argue that he was less of a risk than, say, Darwin Nunez, who moved to Liverpool that same summer. Isak had scored goals in Spain, which is a tougher league than Portugal.
“Something about him really switched during his second season at Newcastle. He added that ruthlessness that takes you from being a very good striker to a world-class one. Haaland needed more chances than Isak to score a goal. The two of them are both fantastic players because they give the goalkeeper no chance, but Isak was arguably even better.”
For Aldridge, who scored 63 goals for Liverpool in 104 outings, Isak could even outshine Salah. “Mo’s one of the best players on the planet, but he’s not nearly as clinical as Isak,” the former striker says. “Liverpool have had many forwards like that in the past – Roger Hunt, Kevin Keegan, Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Fernando Torres. One chance is all they need. Ekitike is a young lad with great technique, but he’s not yet in that class. Isak has it all.
“If the lad turns it on this season, and I truly believe he can, Liverpool will be unstoppable. I can’t see Manchester City, Arsenal or anyone else competing with that firepower. There are exciting times ahead at Anfield, and Isak is central to that. He’s been through a lot to get here, and Reds will appreciate that so much. How can he repay them? A Champions League or two would do!”
