During Liverpool's negotiations with Paris St-Germain for Bradley Barcola, the Anfield hierarchy were determined not to pay more than the club-record £125m they spent on Alexander Isak last summer. When the £123m deal for Barcola is completed over the coming days, the France winger will become the 10th £100m player in Premier League history. None have cost more than Isak, so the expectation on the former Newcastle striker is understandable, to say the least.
Isak scored 44 Premier League goals in his last two seasons at Newcastle, but in an injury-plagued first campaign at Anfield the 26-year-old found the back of the net just three times in 14 top-flight appearances. For Andoni Iraola, who has drawn his first two games as Liverpool manager, a major part of success at Anfield will be the ability to get the best out of Isak, who - despite scoring - was largely ineffective in their 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Unlike last summer, Isak has looked sharp in pre-season after some impressive displays for Sweden at the World Cup, but struggled on his return to Tyneside last weekend.
For 45 minutes against Forest on Saturday, those struggles continued with just six touches, one accurate pass and zero shots. "It is clear that Liverpool haven't worked out how to play with Alexander Isak yet," said ex-England goalkeeper Joe Hart, who is a pundit on Saturday's Match of the Day. "At Newcastle everything flowed through him.
That was down to a trust thing that they had built up over time - their midfield knew exactly where he was and they didn't even need to look up as he'd be there waiting. "At Liverpool that trust just isn't there at the moment - no-one is feeling it and he isn't that central point, which is leading to him looking lost and isolated." Munoz rescues point for Liverpool at home to Forest Gibbs-White shines - player ratings for Liverpool v Nottm Forest Iraola angry as official's board delays subs before goal It would have been intriguing to be a fly on the wall in the directors' box at Anfield. Iraola's first home Premier League game was watched by incoming Liverpool vice-chairman Amit Bhatia, principal owner John Henry, and sporting director Richard Hughes, who was integral in getting the deal for Isak done last summer.
Thankfully for them - and Iraola - Isak got Liverpool on level terms after the break. He managed just seven more touches in the second half but centre-forwards deal in goals and the Swede timed his run perfectly to meet Cody Gakpo's delivery for his first goal of the season. His smile after told a story in itself.
"That's the job ultimately as a striker [to score goals]. I am very happy to score the first one and hopefully it just keeps coming," Isak told TNT Sports. Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard described the goal as "big" - for both the striker's confidence and the team's.
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