Will Alexander Isak play against Burnley this weekend? All the latest news as the Premier League returns.
Liverpool return to Premier League action this Sunday when they travel to Turf Moor to face newly-promoted Burnley – and the big question ahead of this weekend’s match is whether record signing Alexander Isak will be involved.
The Swedish striker complete a British record £125m move to Anfield on transfer deadline day having refused to play or train for former side Newcastle United for six weeks before successfully forcing his move to the reigning champions – leading to questions about his fitness and the likelihood that he is involved this weekend.
Will Alexander Isak start for Liverpool against Burnley?
Isak joined Liverpool team training for the first time on Wednesday having left the city immediately after signing to join up with Jon Dahl Tomasson’s Sweden squad for the recent World Cup qualifying matches against Slovenia and Kosovo. The forward’s involvement in those two games was limited, however. He was left on the bench for the 2-2 draw in Ljubljana and was restricted to a second-half substitute appearance for the 2-0 defeat to Kosovo, only coming on in the 72th minute.
Isak was heavily involved after coming on, managing four unsuccessful shots on goal and picking up a booking, but while he appears to have come through that cameo unscathed his lack of game-time strongly suggests that he is short of full match fitness, given that he is a key starter for his national team when available and would surely have been brought on earlier if possible with Sweden’s qualifying campaign in tatters after conceding two first-half goals in Pristina.
Head coach Tomasson’s comments after the game also suggested that Isak was not yet ready to play a full 90 minutes as he told the media afterwards that “this was the maximum number of minutes I could give him” and that playing him for longer would have been “a risk.”
Will Isak be ready to start against Burnley?
Given Tomasson’s comments and Isak’s involvement with the national team, it looks highly unlikely that Isak will play a full 90 minutes, and some reports further suggest that if he is involved at all it will most likely be from the bench.
Journalist Graeme Bailey claims that one of his sources within Liverpool has described the chances of Isak starting against Burnley as “minimal”, albeit not impossible, which tallies with the implications of his game-time over the international break.
The broad expectation is that Isak will start on the bench with the hope being that he can make his debut later on during the game as he gradually builds back towards full match fitness – but Arne Slot has not yet confirmed when he expects Isak to start or whether he will be involved at all at Turf Moor.
Slot is expected to provide more information at his pre-match press conference, which takes place on Friday morning ahead of the next round of Premier League matches.
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