2 weeks ago
6
Ex-Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann has warned that Alexander Isak may not be back to his best this season as the striker bids to recover the sort of form that convinced Liverpool to pay a British record transfer fee over the summer.
The Sweden star had a disjointed off-season at Newcastle United and arrived at Liverpool following his £125 million ($167M) deadline-day move without the required fitness to be immediately incorporated into the team. Isak was frozen out by Eddie Howe as he attempted to engineer a move to Liverpool.
It meant Liverpool’s first priority was to build up the player’s fitness levels, with Arne Slot claiming on Friday that Isak had finally returned to maximum sharpness. Yet that didn’t appear to be the case in Sunday’s defeat against Manchester United, when a sluggish Isak failed to convert a one-on-one opportunity, while he lacked cohesion with his new team-mates.
Hamann worries that Isak’s difficult summer will impact the remainder of the season and feels Slot should consider removing the 26-year-old from the team so he can focus solely on building his fitness.
"It could take all season for Alexander Isak to get back to his best," the German told ESports News UK. "It's very hard to build up fitness during the season, and he's just not 100 percent fit.
"We're seeing maybe half of the Isak we've seen at Newcastle. How long it's going to take for him to get to full fitness? I do not know.
"Maybe it's best to take him out for a week or 10 days to train and then bring him back into the team."
Hamann also questioned the wisdom of signing Isak following the arrival of Hugo Ekitike.
The ex-Eintracht Frankfurt man has made an immediate impression at Anfield and has already netted five times this season, yet has not started any of the last three Premier League matches.
"The other thing is with Hugo Ekitike, he's probably done the best of the players who were brought in," said Hamann.
"When you've got two center forwards like this, I’m not sure you want that competition because strikers need to have the faith and trust of the manager and the team.
"He's got to know if he scores, he'll play. Now you've got a situation where you've got two, and I'm not sure whether that's beneficial to the pair of them because regardless of what they do, there's always a chance they sit on the bench the next game because there's another £100M man on the bench.
"I'm not sure Liverpool needed an Isak, maybe a back-up striker for Ekitike might have been the better option."
English (US) ·