[Liverpool](https://walkon.com/) spent a combined 225 million pounds on Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak this past summer transfer window after winning the Premier League, and some of the takes about these two superstar players have been absolutely absurd.
Wirtz faced the most memes and even vitriol from rival fan bases after a slow start to the season in terms of goals and assists, but the mulit time Bundesliga Player of the Season and true architest of Bayer Leverkusen’s historic undefeated 2023/24 campaign has quickly shut the haters up in recent weeks.
The young German international has been sensational, showing the full gamut of his abilities as a playmaker even in a flawed Liverpool side coached by a manager who has faced increasing criticism this season in Arne Slot.
But while Wirtz has silenced most of his rather foolish critics, the even more expensive Isak remains the target of intense criticism, some of which has crossed the line into absurdity.
Just a season ago, Alexander Isak was roundly praised as the best striker in the Premier League, with some going as far as to say that he was as good – if not even better – than Erling Haaland.
Again, those were knee jerk overreactions, but so are the assertions that Isak is a flop whom Liverpool already should part ways with. Isak has played in just 10 Premier League games this season with two goals and an assist.
That is hardly anything worth saying effusively positive things about, but with injuries hampering him and a transition to a new team, it’s clear that people are being a bit too harsh on Isak out of the gate.
He has not looked all that bad when he has played, and while the juxtaposition of how quickly Hugo Ekitike has integrated himself into the Liverpool team in his first season at Anfield after a big money move from Germany does not help Isak’s perception, it is a bit unfair to fault the Swede for the strong work by a teammate.
The likelihood of Isak coming good is stronger than the likelihood of him completely flopping, and even if he does end up falling short of such a ballyhooed price tag at 26 years old, the reality is that a lot of people are putting themselves at risk of looking like fools with the Isak critiques, just as they were already proven foolhardy by his teammate Florian Wirtz.
Joe Soriano is the editor of _The Trivela Effect_ and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like _The Real Champs_ (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage _NFL Spin Zone_ and _Daily DDT,_ covering the NFL and pro wrestling.