Alexander Isak is yet to score in the Premier League for Liverpool since his £125million move from Newcastle United in the summer, but Gary Lineker has urged patience
Gary Lineker has called on Liverpool to be patient with Alexander Isak, who is yet to find his feet at Anfield following a record-breaking £125 million transfer from Newcastle United. The forward has struggled to make an impact in the Premier League since his summer move.
His latest goalless outing was during Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday afternoon. Despite being picked over Hugo Ekitike as the main striker and playing for 72 minutes, Isak couldn’t break his duck, contributing to Liverpool’s fourth consecutive loss.
Given the hefty fee and the effort that went into securing his services, there are high expectations for Isak at Liverpool. The Sweden international has so far been unable to meet them.
This has led to calls from former England star Wayne Rooney for Isak to be relegated to the bench. Speaking on The Wayne Rooney Show, he said: “I wouldn’t play Isak, he hasn’t looked ready since coming from Newcastle.
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“He hasn’t trained, hasn’t had a pre-season. It’s so important. While Newcastle were training he was probably sat at home on the phone to his agent for six hours a day trying to get a move.”
“It’s so difficult when you don’t have a pre-season. He might’ve done stuff by himself but he’s paying the price of it. On performances, he doesn’t deserve to be playing ahead of Ekitike.”
However, Lineker disagrees with Rooney and believes that Liverpool should give Isak more time, given his disrupted pre-season.
“I would say that because of the length of time all of that debacle took place, he wouldn’t be as fit and as fresh so he’s playing catch-up,” Lineker argued on the The Rest Is Football.
“When you miss pre-season, it’s almost like an injured player coming back. So I would actually give him a little bit more time because he’s only played a handful of games.
“It’s almost like he’s going through pre-season during a real season. So I would give him a little bit of time on that front, and I think he’ll come good because he’s such a classy player.”
Fellow pundit Micah Richards took a harsher view of the striker, drawing comparisons between his current displays and those during his spell at Newcastle.
“Isak is the shadow of the player this whole debacle of what happened in the summer, it’s showing. He’s not fit,” he said.
“Arne Slot said in the press conference before that now we’re going to see the real Isak because he looks like he’s going to be fit now. But the chance that he had in the game, if he’s at Newcastle, he tucks that away.”
Liverpool will aim to get back to winning ways and halt the run of defeats when they return to Champions League action on Wednesday night. The Reds head to Germany to face Eintracht Frankfurt.
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