Alexander Isak to Liverpool was the summer’s big transfer saga, with the Reds finally getting their man on the final day of the window.
The Swede cost Liverpool £125million and joins an attack that already has last season’s Premier League Golden Boot winner Mohamed Salah, plus £79million summer signing Hugo Ekitike in their ranks.
But former Reds striker Michael Owen – ranked at no.39 in FourFourTwo’s list of the greatest Liverpool players ever – believes that it was little surprise that Liverpool to build strength on strength this summer.
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Owen on Isak to Liverpool
Michael Owen in February, 1988 (Image credit: Alamy)
“Last season, he was arguably the best centre forward in the world, he was just incredible,” Owen tells FourFourTwo. “A great finisher, intelligent, good touch, size, presence and personality. It was not a surprise that Liverpool wanted him, but it was always going to be an ambitious deal, especially as they still needed to strengthen elsewhere.”
The transfer saga saw Isak refusing to train at Newcastle, instead opting to maintain his fitness at former club Real Sociedad’s training ground this summer, with the deal only getting done after the Magpies had brought in replacements in the form of Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa.
Isak joined after a lengthy transfer saga (Image credit: Getty Images)
“You cannot condone refusing to play or train,” adds Owen. “But I understood, in a way, he saw this as an opportunity of a lifetime. You only get one life, one career. Maybe he saw this as his chance to play for probably the best team in the world – as Liverpool presently are. It sounded fairly amicable at the start, when he made his feelings known. But then it just descended into a mess.”
“He started playing every trick in the book to try to force his move,” says Owen. “The writing was on the wall from the moment the back-and-forth statements came out. There was no way he could go back to Newcastle. Despite their public stance, I think that’s when the club started looking for the best deal they could get for him.”
So what can Liverpool fans expect from their front line this season?
“It could be the most formidable attack in world football,” Owen insists. “It’s not like it used to be when you had certain players for certain positions and that was that. There are so many games, there’s so much rotation, that everyone is key.
Owen also played for Newcastle United (Image credit: Getty Images)
“Liverpool have an abundance of attacking options, but every top club should have that problem if they want to compete on all fronts.
“They can’t all play every game – there will be a lot of matches, there will be injuries, there will be losses of form. It’ll be interesting when everyone is fit and there’s a big game – who will Arne Slot choose to start? But that’s a problem every manager would be envious of.”
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