The knives will be out for Alexander Isak and his £125m British transfer record move to Liverpool - but there is a long game at play at Anfield
Paul Gorst is the Liverpool ECHO's Liverpool FC correspondent and brings readers the inside track on all matters Anfield day in, day out. Now into his seventh season in the role, Paul follows the Reds home and away, wherever they play - including pre season. He brings you all the latest Liverpool news first each day, plus exclusive interviews and insightful, independent analysis. A journalist with over a decade's worth of experience, he has worked at the ECHO since 2016.
Alexander Isak
(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
For a player arriving for a British-record transfer fee of £125m, there is an inconvenient truth that few will want to hear around Alexander Isak at Liverpool.
As the most expensive footballer of all time both on Merseyside and English football as a whole, the Sweden international arrives with his stock at its all-time highest, on the back of 23 Premier League goals last term.
Isak also helped former employers Newcastle United see off his new ones in March's Carabao Cup final, dispatching the winning goal at Wembley to end a 70-year wait for a domestic trophy on Tyneside at the expense of Arne Slot and his future Premier League winners.
The scale of the transfer and manner of its execution have inevitably gained so much exposure and coverage during the summer months and it was telling to note that, so far at least, so few behind the scenes have been willing to offer much detail about Liverpool's side of the negotiation process with Newcastle, or how the blockbuster deal came about from their end.
Given the often incessant noise around the player's fallout with Newcastle - a saga which became increasingly tawdry and tedious for those without a skin in the game - there is an aligned stance inside Anfield that there is little to be gained from even privately discussing the specifics around the £125m transfer. At least just yet.
Given the anger that permeated the Newcastle fanbase during Isak's very public agitation to get his dream move across July and August, offering any counterpoints to the mainstream narrative from the buying club's perspective would likely only fan the flames further. Liverpool have their man and that is all that matters for now as far as Slot, sporting director Richard Hughes and the rest of the key figures behind the scenes are concerned.
The facts that were outlined to the ECHO on deadline day were simple: he signs on a six-year deal for £125m and he will wear the No.9 shirt. Anything else could be gleaned from his official interview with Liverpoolfc.com, which was published at 9.30pm on Monday to coincide with the formal unveiling.
Liverpool are somewhat fortunate that the deal arrived just before an international break in the sense that it allowed the story to die down before the resumption of Premier League action next week.
It means the furore that surrounded the acrimonious exit from St James' Park has also had time to be taken off the back pages and drop down on the website homepages of the wider football media.
By the time the action returns, starting with something of a low-key visit to Burnley on September 14, Liverpool will hope the external focus will have shifted towards Isak's future at Anfield rather than his (recent) past at Newcastle.
But there is a short-term problem awaiting in that given the eye-wateringly expensive deal and the high-profile nature of it, the striker will be expected to perform by many from minute one. From Reds supporters wishing him well to those from North East circles hopeful that the transfer falls on its face, the pressure is, rightly or wrongly, immediately on now.
The 25-year-old has barely had a pre-season training session to call his own this summer, let alone a competitive game and you have to trawl back to May for his last appearance of any kind on a football pitch. Going one third of a full calendar year without any match action is not conducive to instant results as a £125m striker, particularly when the knives are out, the claws are sharpened and every act is scrutinised.
That lack of match fitness was something Sweden boss Jon Dahl Tomasson alluded to after Sweden's 2-2 draw with Slovenia on Friday night in their World Cup qualifier.
"We would love to play him, everyone would," Tomasson conceded. "But after three training sessions with the group, and no proper training all summer, the risk is a little too great. He could be a game changer against Kosovo, I believe. But we have to do the right things with him. In the long and short term."
Liverpool have been in contact with the staff at Sweden, with Tomasson and Slot holding conversations alongside the national team's physio, Ben Rosen, and the club's physical department. It will be hoped he can feature in some form against Kosovo on Monday night.
Longer term, there are fewer issues; Liverpool believe they have signed one of the very best frontmen in European football in Isak to go alongside other exciting summer purchases of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike, and much will be demanded of the new recruits for the coming years as Slot's evolution continues.
Until they can get Isak back up to the sort of fitness levels that enabled him to score 23 times last time out, though, those expecting goals straight off the bat might just have to temper their expectations slightly, for a few weeks at least.
That may lead to some premature crowing from those desperate to see this deal fail, but so be it. There is a long game at play here for Liverpool.