Alexander Isak now ‘100%’ ready to start making a major impact at Liverpool

Arne Slot has said Alexander Isak is ready to showcase the qualities that made him Britain’s most expensive footballer.

Isak’s low-key start to life at Liverpool has been attributed to him missing the majority of pre-season training with Newcastle while he forced through a record £125m transfer to Anfield. Seven weeks after joining the Premier League champions, however, and having played the entirety of Sweden’s two recent World Cup qualifiers, Slot believes match fitness is no longer an issue for a striker who aims to kickstart his Liverpool career against Manchester United on Sunday.

“Fitness-wise he is close to the level he should be and we can judge him in a fair way from now on,” said the Liverpool head coach.

“The first five or six weeks, of course we had the player we signed but he was not completely ready. He was getting fitter but he had to do this in a Premier League game. This is not normal for a player. Ideally you would use him earlier in friendly matches but there is no time in the middle of the season for a friendly so we had to build him up playing Premier League and Champions League games.

“You have to be on top of your game to make a difference at this level. You can play at this level if you are 80, 90 or 95% but to make a difference at the highest level of football you need to be 100%. That goes for every player and I think I can safely say he is 100% now.”

Isak has started four games for Liverpool in all competitions, scoring once in the Carabao Cup win over Southampton. When asked what he wanted from the club’s record signing, Slot replied: “Goals. That is the most simple thing but also to be the leader in pressing from our front three, there we can improve as well. That is something he needs to do but Hugo [Ekitiké] the same.

“Of course if you are a No 9 at Liverpool you need to score goals but that is what he has always done in his life. The only thing he needs to be is fit and, if he is fit, our team is still creating the most chances from open play in the Premier League and we have the most shots on target in the Premier League from open play. But there is a second part of football that has become quite important and there we have to improve. You know what it is? Set pieces. There are two games in football, the open play and the set-piece part.”

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