Alexander Isak endured a difficult first campaign at Liverpool under Arne Slot but has the chance of a fresh start under Andoni Iraola this season
Alexander Isak during a Liverpool pre-season training session
Alexander Isak during a Liverpool pre-season training session(Image: (Nikki Dyer/Liverpool FC via Getty Images))
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If Liverpool are heading into a new era under Andoni Iraola, few will be ready to embrace it as much as Alexander Isak. And as the most expensive footballer in British football pulls on the Reds' shirt for the first time since May on Sunday in Chicago, the £125m striker might feel as though he needs to remind more than a few of exactly what all the fuss is about.
This time last year, Isak was training alone, using the facilities of his former club Real Sociedad, after refusing to travel on Newcastle United's pre-season tour of the Far East. It was an unsanctioned detour that left Newcastle chiefs furious.
A minor muscle injury was cited at the time but Isak was pressing the nuclear button in his efforts to leave St James' Park, where he felt promises had been broken by the club, particularly relating to a new deal promised by former minority shareholder Amanda Staveley before incoming sporting director Paul Mitchell pulled the plug after her departure.
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A year on, many have criticised the drawn-out and protracted nature of his eventual move to Merseyside. However, Newcastle - and their owners, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia - were so insistent that their star man stay that Isak almost certainly would not have been transferred had he not agitated so forcefully.
Those efforts had a knock-on effect, however, and the lack of a pre-season schedule meant Isak arrived after the Premier League season had started and he was well off the pace.
An immediate international break saw him whisked off to Sweden just moments after completing his dream move on September 1. Given the two subsequent international breaks in October and November, Liverpool found it difficult to get their No.9 up to speed, despite a carefully designed, bespoke fitness regime.
A first Premier League goal arrived at West Ham United at the end of November but a second, in a 2-1 win over Tottenham on December 20, was his last for over four months, owing to Micky van de Ven's tackle that ended with Isak hobbling off with a broken leg.
TOPSHOT - Liverpool's Swedish striker #09 Alexander Isak (R) shoots to score the opening goal for 0-1 as Tottenham Hotspur's Dutch defender #37 Micky van de Ven (L) challenges during the English Premier League football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, on December 20, 2025. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP via Getty Images) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. /
Alexander Isak scoring for Liverpool against Tottenham(Image: Getty Images)
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Surgery was undertaken quickly to correct an ankle injury with a fibula fracture which kept him on the shelf until April. That, as was the case for more than a few footballers around the planet, was the period of the campaign when glances started being cast towards the World Cup.
And given his well-documented fitness issues, it would perhaps be no surprise that the £125m striker was concerned with missing that with Sweden. The Reds forward enjoyed a decent showing at the competition, scoring a goal and creating three assists and he is back on club duty once more, ready to make a mark.
"Alex is exciting," said Iraola in Thursday's Chicago press conference. "He has come to pre-season in a good place, had a good World Cup, feeling comfortable.
"His first training here, still early but I hope he can play against Leeds and have a proper pre-season. It is not long, but three or four weeks of quality training, I hope and he is in a good place because he is going to be massive for us."
Andoni Iraola, the new manager for English Premier League football side Liverpool, walks out to meet the media at the team's training ground in Kirkby, Liverpool, north-west England on July 13, 2026. (Photo by PETER POWELL / AFP via Getty Images)
Andoni Iraola ahead of a Liverpool training session(Image: PETER POWELL, AFP via Getty Images)
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Iraola is correct when he says that Isak has a sizable part to play in this new period at Anfield. With Mohamed Salah - the top scorer in eight of his nine seasons—no longer on Merseyside the goalscoring burden will fall on the Sweden striker, who plundered 44 goals in his final two Premier League seasons at Newcastle.
It might not even be too much of a stretch to suggest that the success of the Iraola era rests on Isak getting back to the sort of levels that made him one of the most feared and gifted frontmen in the country during his time on Tyneside.
But can he rediscover that magic with the price tag and injury history weighing heavy? For one legendary Liverpool marksman, the answer is simple.
Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak
Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak
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"If it was me, the price tag would not bother me," Robbie Fowler says on the pre-season tour of the United States. "The players are focused on doing well, it is left to others to talk about money.
"Price tags are only one thing the clubs put on a player. For me, it would not bother me, whether that’s my mentality, I don’t know… some players don’t have that.
"Alexander is world-class and the price tag won’t bother him either. He has everything in the locker, exciting when he drives with the ball, he makes things happen. He excites the fans which is imperative for a club like Liverpool."
It's been too long since Isak has been able to truly excite supporters, but that will all change this weekend at Chicago's Soldier Field, just by stepping on to the pitch.
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