A 'deadly' force but with weaknesses too - I've seen Isak at his highest and lowest
In Ian Graham’s brilliant book _How to win the Premier League_, the former director of research at Liverpool laid out some fairly stark statistics.
Between 1992 and 2021, roughly half of all signings played under 50 per cent of their new team’s games over the first two seasons.
These were significant deals – they had to have cost over £8m to qualify. What was even more surprising was that it didn’t matter how high the fee was, the figure (46 per cent) stayed stubbornly the same.
It was not a question of the player not being good enough – just that the club signing him has misjudged his ability to fit into the team they are building.
Back when Graham was building the cutting edge data operation that has catapulted Liverpool to the summit of English football, this was the area they saw as ripe for a revolution. It was in transfers that they could get their “edge”.
In Alexander Isak, their approach may be about to get its biggest examination.
No one who has watched Isak play regularly – as I have over his three seasons at St James’ Park – could be in any doubt about his ability or the deadly beauty of his marksmanship. But pulling him out of his comfort zone will be the ultimate test of whether Isak is as good as he believes he is.
He scored 54 goals in 86 Premier League appearances at Newcastle and he was not a flat track bully in that time. Indeed his best displays seemed to coincide with when the attention was on him: he scored at Anfield on his debut and then in December of 2024 there was that long-range rocket – also against Liverpool -that crystallised what makes Isak so unique.
His elastic, graceful movement earns him a few extra yards but it is what he does with it that is so remarkable: a touch and then a perfect, early hit of power and precision.
“He is a ‘moments’ player,” one insider who has worked with him says.
“Everyone is looking for a striker who can do that – change a game in an instant. He’s deadly and his skillset has it all – power, acceleration, he can finish and he’s got a really good leap on him as well. He’s the complete package.”
And yet this was a Newcastle team that was built to utilise the advantages that Isak has. The scouting team analysed his gifts before Newcastle signed him in 2022, measuring the runs he made and building a system that would deliver a high percentage of passes to him in the areas where he was most devastating.
It became a problem for the Magpies last season when they struggled to win without him in the team. There is no one in world football who can replicate Isak’s impact – ironically Newcastle identified Hugo Ekitike as someone who could – and that style didn’t really suit Callum Wilson, more of a traditional number nine.
At Liverpool, Arne Slot’s system is probably more about control and Isak will have to find his way in what Jamie Carragher has christened Liverpool’s very own version of the Galaticos. He was undoubtedly the star attacker at St James’ Park – he is just one in a constellation at Anfield.
Isak must also shake off doubts about his availability. He missed 39 games across all competitions in three season at Newcastle – a record that mirrored his time at Real Sociedad. It was those injury doubts that allowed Newcastle, then under the stewardship of Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, to pounce for a player long recognised in scouting circles as a potentially generational talent.
Newcastle’s head of performance James Bunce has done wonders with him, managing fitness and conditioning worries but Liverpool also have a world-class medical department.
He will also arrive at Anfield with new notoriety after [shamefully going on strike](https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/newcastle-alexander-isak-transfer-feud-3885991?ico=in-line_link) to push through his move to Liverpool. Turning himself into a toxic asset on Tyneside has worked but it will bring new focus on him – not that those who have worked with him think he is the type of character to be affected by that.
“He just doesn’t seem to feel the pressure. He has just this utter self-belief,” the insider says of Isak.
Newcastle have also seen another side to him this summer: a stubborn streak that ultimately made their decision for them.
Although Howe needed to shake him out of an unsettled slumber at the start of last season, Slot will not find someone who is particularly high-maintenance.
Until the summer, he was a popular character in the changing room and teammates Anthony Gordon and Sven Botman broke ranks to wish him the best for his Liverpool move (even if others have seethed at his behaviour).
Liverpool have done their due diligence and sources suggest he is about as close to a “sure thing” as you can get in the transfer market. I would not bet against Isak proving them to be right again.