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From the moment Alexander Isak completed his move to Liverpool on transfer deadline day, there has been one burning question that is yet to be answered.
Having signed two high-class strikers for top dollar in the summer, Arne Slot is going to have a difficult task keeping both Isak and Hugo Ekitike satisfied. Both will have joined Liverpool, aiming to become the club’s first-choice frontman, but as the old saying goes: “This town ain’t big enough for the both of us.”
Or is it? It’s a bold strategy, considering the way Liverpool has operated for over a decade now, but could Isak and Ekitike play together?
Playing two strikers is hardly a novel idea, but it does feel like a concept that was left behind at some point in the mid-2000s. Yet, it was floated earlier this summer, around the same time it looked like both Ekitike and Isak could end up at the same club.
Back around July, that was becoming a distinct possibility, but Liverpool wasn’t necessarily the destination. Isak was still a Newcastle player, with no sign of the uproar he would cause to try and secure an exit, and the Magpies were eyeing up a record deal for Ekitike.
With the Reds’ interest in the former common knowledge at that point, and the latter touted as another target, every effort was made from Newcastle’s end to justify both players pulling on the black and white. Among the messages emanating from the north-east was Eddie Howe’s supposed plan for Isak and Ekitike not to share the responsibilities up front, but to actually play alongside each other.
Of course, those plans - if they did exist - went down the drain as Newcastle had to watch both players make their way to Merseyside. But could Liverpool now use Howe’s masterplan?
It seems unlikely, but Ekitike floated the idea himself as he spoke about how things would now work with Isak in the picture.
“I think it’s good. We play in such a big club, I can’t see one big club just playing with only one striker, so I think it’s good that he’s [Isak] here,” Ekitike said ahead of the Champions League clash with Galatasaray.
“I think I still have a lot of things to improve and learn. For me, it’s good that he’s here, and that’s for the coach to decide how he wants to play.
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“Obviously, it’s great players, I’ve been playing in two-striker compositions, one striker, so I can do a lot of things. If we have to play together, I can do that.”
Playing two strikers would be a bold call from Slot, and it might not happen in quite the same way as anyone who remembers the glory days of 4-4-2 would imagine. After all, it would require some major reconstruction of a system that has served Liverpool well.
But if Ekitike is happy, then there is nothing stopping Slot from finding a way for both him and Isak to play in the same side, and give Newcastle a glimpse of what could have been.
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