It is in keeping with the story of Liverpool‘s season that the injury sustained by striker Hugo Ekitike in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal defeat to Paris Saint-Germain will not just disrupt this campaign, but scupper plans for next term too.
When it rains, it pours for Liverpool at present and the sight of top-scorer Ekitike being stretchered off on Tuesday night with a ruptured Achilles only served to heighten the sense of gloom that has pervaded every facet of the Reds’ sorry Premier League title defense.
The 23-year-old has provided a rare cause for optimism since his initial £69 million move from Eintracht Frankfurt last summer, but now looks poised to spend at least nine months on the sidelines, which will derail his hopes of competing with France at the 2026 World Cup and of building on his impressive debut season at Anfield.
The one consolation for Liverpool is that they have a £125 million striker in reserve in Alexander Isak, who joined the club from Newcastle United on deadline day last September following one of the most protracted and toxic transfer sagas in top-flight history. However, despite the fanfare that accompanied his British-record signing, a cocktail of injuries, poor form and dubious fitness has so far prevented the Sweden international from living up to the hype.
Isak has managed just 859 minutes in all competitions for Liverpool — only a quarter of the amount he enjoyed for Newcastle last season, when he scored 27 goals in all competitions en route to a place in the PFA Team of the Year. This term, the 26-year-old has netted just three goals — two in the Premier League — and started only 11 of the Reds’ 50 games.
Head coach Arne Slot has previously conceded that supporters might have to wait until next season to see the “best Alex” but, with no Ekitike and the small matter of UEFA Champions League qualification on the line, that ambition must now be expedited.
PSG gamble backfired but Isak “ready” to play
It is emblematic of Isak’s stuttering Anfield career that, in the process of scoring the opening goal against Tottenham Hotspur in December, he also sustained the fibula fracture that would keep him out of action for 100 days.
Having returned to make cameos off the bench against PSG at the Parc des Princes and Fulham in the Premier League, the Sweden international was handed his first start in more than four months in the second leg of his team’s quarterfinal tie on Tuesday night, with Slot revealing prematch that the striker was unlikely to be able to play for more than 45 minutes.
While Slot was widely criticized for his candor, there was some logic in his decision name Isak in his starting XI alongside Ekitike, considering Liverpool needed two goals to level the tie on aggregate.
With the potential for extra time, Slot opted to gamble on Isak making an early impact rather than having to introduce and then withdraw him after the break. Ultimately, though, it was a calculated risk that backfired. Isak had just five touches in the first half and was largely on the peripheries of the action before being replaced by Cody Gakpo at half-time.
Mohamed Salah — who had initially been set to replace Isak — had been called into action earlier than scheduled following Ekitike’s injury, and the decision not to start the Egypt international off the back of his superb strike against Fulham divided opinion. “I can’t believe it, that he [Salah] is not playing,” former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said on CBS Sports before the game. “I can’t understand why. The manager will have his reasons, but Isak is nowhere near fit.
“Mo Salah didn’t play in the first leg, so he’s not like some of the players who played last week and then played at the weekend in the Premier League. He played in the Premier League, he scored a goal, he’s still one of Liverpool’s, probably Liverpool’s best goal scorer. He’s used to this system; Isak’s never really played with Ekitike before.”
Indeed, the lack of synergy between Isak and Ekitike was clear. Tuesday was only the second time the pair had started a game alongside £100 million summer signing Florian Wirtz, with Ekitike’s early exit meaning the trio — signed to help Slot build a dynasty after Jurgen Klopp’s exit from Anfield — have shared a pitch for just 115 minutes this season.
Those searching for positives from Isak’s largely anonymous display could point to the fact that the striker forced Liverpool’s first shot on target of the tie, directing a header from Dominik Szoboszlai‘s set piece into the gloves of PSG goalkeeper Matvei Safonov. And he was afforded another sight of goal when played through by Ryan Gravenberch, though he was flagged offside having mistimed his run. The move was reminiscent of his goal against Tottenham and offered hope that, once better acquainted with his teammates, Isak will exhibit the lethal finishing ability that compelled Liverpool to break the bank for him.
“He was twice close to a goal and that’s why you play a striker of his level,” Slot said in his postmatch news conference. “There was one header from a set-piece and one great run in behind (Willian) Pacho where he was really close to scoring which was eventually offside. It’s good to have him back. He was ready and if I thought he wasn’t ready then I wouldn’t have played him.”
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Laurens confirms Ekitike ruptured Achilles
Julien Laurens shares details of Hugo Ekitike’s Achilles injury as he faces months on the sidelines.
Isak “driving” his own future
Certainly, Isak’s readiness for action could prove instrumental in determining how strongly Liverpool end the season. They have a testing run of fixtures to come, including clashes with top-five rivals Manchester United, Chelsea and Aston Villa, with the outcome of those games likely to impact the mood music surrounding Slot ahead of a decisive summer.
The first of those crunch fixtures comes this weekend, when Liverpool take on Everton in the first Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Isak made his Premier League debut for the Reds against their city rivals back in September, when Slot’s side were flying high at the top of the table.
The landscape at Anfield is drastically different than how it was seven months ago, but there would be few better ways for Isak to endear himself to the Liverpool fanbase than by scoring against Everton. With Salah set to leave the club in the summer, the coming weeks could see a passing of the baton, with Isak expected to become the main man on Merseyside once the talismanic Egypt forward departs.
With only one game a week to navigate between now and the end of the season, the scope for additional time on the training pitch could also prove key in developing the fledgling relationships between Isak and his teammates. Having worked his way up from the Swedish Allsvenskan, via the German Bundesliga and Spain’s LaLiga, to the heady heights of the Premier League, the striker is no stranger to putting in the hard yards.
“He is driving his future,” Peter Wennberg, who coached Isak during his time at AIK in Stockholm told ESPN last year. “He is not letting his destiny be in anyone else’s hands. He is driving it.”
For Liverpool, now would be the perfect time for Isak to begin steering them towards success.
