ALEXANDER Isak has had a front row seat for three Liverpool wins since making the record-breaking transfer from Newcastle United on deadline day. One of those games he was in the stand, another he was on the bench and another he started, but in all cases the Swedish striker has contributed very little.

Arne Slot has been wise not to throw Isak in at the deep end. The 26-year-old didn’t have a preseason and hadn’t played a single minute of competitive action before pitching up at Anfield. It was evident in Isak’s starting performance against Atletico Madrid that his fitness level is a number of weeks, maybe even months, behind that of his new teammates. It will take time for him to get up to speed.

That Hugo Ekitike has hit the ground after his own summer switch to Anfield has given Slot the freedom to slowly integrate Isak with the former Eintracht Frankfurt striker netting his third goal in five games in Saturday’s Merseyside Derby win over Everton. Liverpool have a perfect record at the top of the Premier League table, and Ekitike has more than played his part.

So how can Slot possibly drop Ekitike when the 23-year-old is delivering for his new team so consistently? Not only this, he has slotted seamlessly into a forward line that demands a lot of the three players it includes. Darwin Nunez struggled to handle this, but Ekitike already looks like a proven performer next to the likes of Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo. He looks at home in such a high-level team.

Ekitike cost a lot in his own right, arriving on Merseyside with a £79m price tag around his neck. He is one of the best young forwards in the game right now and will surely continue to improve as he enters his peak years. Isak’s signing, however, could be a barrier to that development.

“There is no headache at all, because I even think that these two players are happy that we have them both,” said Slot after Ekitike’s goal-scoring display in the Merseyside Derby. “Maybe for the long term they will feel like, ‘what does this mean for my playing time?’ But both of them know that it’s impossible – I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s very hard for them to play three times, 90 [minutes every week].”

 

Slot is right to point out that Liverpool have plenty of game time to share around. They want to compete on several fronts for silverware, meaning they require depth in all areas to handle the demands of playing in the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.

Liverpool faded towards the end of the 2024/25 campaign, only winning the Premier League title when it once appeared they might be set for a clean sweep of all four trophies. Slot and the decision-makers at Anfield, including sporting director Richards Hughes have clearly held on to that experience.

 

It’s not just in attack where Liverpool now boast serious depth, but in midfield too, where Slot can now choose between Florian Wirtz, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, and Wataru Endo. They have options across the backline and two top-level goalkeepers in Alisson Becker and Giorgi Mamardashvili.

There is at least an established hierarchy in these areas, though. Ekitike and Isak joined Liverpool in the same transfer window and were likely sold on the idea of being the Reds’ starting number nine. Now, there is one superstar and one potential superstar vying for just one place. It might be a nice problem for Slot to have, but it’s a problem nonetheless.

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