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Alexander Isak has taken his first shots in a Liverpool jersey. There were certainly signs of promise in the midweek triumph over Atletico Madrid, although as Thierry Henry found out from Jamie Carragher, the intense scrutiny has inevitably already begun.
That's par for the course when joining Liverpool, but especially when doing so for a British-record transfer fee. Heavyweight expectations and comparisons will be thrown around.
If he ever doubted it, Isak would only need to ask Florian Wirtz, whom some people are absolutely desperate to write off after just five games. Never mind the fact that he had an excellent evening against Atletico, showing exciting signs of a link-up with his newest teammate.
Liverpool does its homework on all aspects of new signings, and will be confident that both Wirtz and Isak have what it takes to overcome any unwanted media attention. Even so, some eyes will be rolling at the immediate desire to force an Isak vs Erling Haaland narrative.
Henry was certainly unimpressed by that line of questioning. When asked by Carragher who he preferred, the Arsenal legend insisted that they are very different players:
"There's one guy who can play on the left and the right, and then you have a goal-machine who lives in the box," Henry explained to Carragher on CBS Sports Golazo.
"In my day, in a 4-4-2 would have been brilliant to have them both, they're different players.
"I get annoyed when people compare an in-and-out striker with a guy who moves around. You can't compare them because they're two different players."
Perhaps still getting to grips with the realities of the UK media, Arne Slot has inadvertently fuelled some of this recent discusssion. He declared Isak "maybe the best striker in the world," which obviously set a chain of ridiculous analysis in motion.
Inevitably, that quote ended up getting put to Pep Guardiola. He was then forced to disagree, making the case for Haaland as the better striker.
In fairness to Slot, he had also been doing his best to tiptoe around any big statements, aside from the one slip-up. Answering another question, he denied that Isak was the best in the world, because he has been out for four months — and added that he would need to win trophies with Liverpool to be considered among the absolute elite.
Yet here we are, with the Haaland debate being discussed. It's familiar territory for Liverpool fans, after the forced Haaland vs Darwin Nunez agenda.
But Henry is right when it comes to Isak and Haaland. It's not quite apples and oranges, but at the very least it's lemons and limes.
In a completely non-judgmental way (how could we possibly judge a player who has just hit 50 Champions League goals at the age of 25?), Isak is the more complete player. Haaland is laser-focused on finding the back of the net, whereas Liverpool's new recruit likes to drift acros the front three.
If the criterion is who would be better if asked to play from the left, then Isak would be the clear winner. If it's sheer ruthless efficiency in front of goal, Haaland is the gold standard every striker must aim to match.
Perhaps the comparison willl become more legitimate as the season progresses. Liverpool may yet ask Isak to play in a similar way to Haaland, relentlessly searching for the pockets of space in which he can inflict maximum goalmouth damage.
But if his debut is anything to go by, Isak has not arrived to become the sole focal point — at least not while Mohamed Salah is still around. The Egyptian scored and assisted against Atletico, and should really have had a second, with many flowing Liverpool moves ending up with the ball at his feet.
It would be churlish to deny that Liverpool expects goals from Isak, and plenty of them. But one of the Premier League's greatest ever attackers recognizes that there is far more nuance than that, and everyone could do with taking a leaf from Henry's book.
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