Alexander Isak Makes Blunt Admission About Poor Liverpool Form

Anfield’s new No. 9 is yet to justify his British record transfer fee.

Alexander Isak has scored just twice for Liverpool so far. / Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images

Alexander Isak bluntly admitted he doesn’t know what’s caused his Liverpool struggles so far this season, but remains confident it’s only temporary—because that’s how football “works.”

Isak finished the 2024–25 season with Newcastle United with 44 Premier League goals across two campaigns stretching back to 2023.

It made the Swede an obvious choice for Liverpool as they attempted to strike while the iron was hot and proactively rebuild straight off the back of a title-winning season. Eventually, a £125 million ($167.3 million) British record deal was completed, although it has hardly been smooth sailing since.

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Isak began the new season low on fitness because his attempts to leave Newcastle involved effectively going on strike and refusing to train with his Magpies teammates during the summer. But, even now, Isak has only scored once in 14 Liverpool appearances and has been benched by Hugo Ekitiké in the last two games. The Reds have won only three league game’s played in.

“I don't really have the answer to that,” he told Swedish publication Sportbladet. “The team thing—it’s clear that it’s been slow, but that’s how it is in football. There are always teams that are flying, and then it’s slower for others. It’s about turning that around.

“For me too … it’s not the first time in my career that I’ve gone through a period like this, or been in bad shape. That’s how a football career works, it’s just something you have to fight your way out of.”

With the latter point, Isak was likely referencing the first big move of his career, which didn’t work out how he would have wanted. Having enjoyed a breakout with Stockholm-based club AIK at the age of 17, drawing early comparisons with Zlatan Ibrahimović, Isak became the most expensive Allsvenskan player (at that time) when he moved to Borussia Dortmund in January 2017.

Isak has experience of things not working out. / TF-Images/Getty Images

But he failed to establish himself in the first-team at Dortmund, despite the club’s reputation for developing raw talent. Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham later both thrived. Isak retreated on loan to Willem II in the Netherlands and then permanently joined Real Sociedad to resurrect his career.

Of course, he was successful, with Newcastle convinced to part with a club record £63 million in 2022 after observing the striker’s second coming in Spain. It is for that reason Isak believes his limited performances and output since joining Liverpool won’t last forever.

“Absolutely [I’m confident],” he said. “That comes with experience. Never too high, never too low. Trying to find that balance, that’s what I feel I’ve gotten better at.”

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Rift With Mohamed Salah?

It’s alleged Mohamed Salah has some doubts. / Richard Martin-Roberts/CameraSport/Getty Images

Part of Liverpool’s motivation to commit to the best part of £450 million in transfer fees was likely with a view to a future without the likes of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Andrew Robertson and others who drove the success of the Jürgen Klopp era.

Like many more, Salah’s form has been disappointing so far in 2025–26, leading to the Egyptian superstar and Anfield legend of his time getting benched by Arne Slot in November. After three games out of the team, Salah openly criticised the decision, claiming he had been thrown under the bus by the club and no longer has a relationship with the manager.

The saga, on hold for the time being, has played out very publicly, but it has also been alleged this week that Salah has other gripes behind the scenes. It has been reported that he is not “overly convinced” by the recruitment Liverpool did in the summer, with particular doubts over Isak and fellow arrival Florian Wirtz being the players to lead the club into the next chapter.

Given how little impact Isak and Wirtz have had, it would be easy to sympathise with Salah if that genuinely is his perception of things.

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