Why Alexander Isak concerns Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler as £125m striker is told price tag will count for nothing if he fails to deliver in second season

Isak swapped Tyneside for Merseyside in the summer of 2025 after plundering 62 goals for Newcastle through 109 appearances. He passed 20 in the Premier League across back-to-back seasons, with a reputation being earned as one of the most complete strikers in world football.

Said qualities held obvious appeal to domestic rivals at Anfield. Liverpool fought hard to get a deal done, digging historically deep in the process, but acquired a player that was playing catch-up on the fitness front from day one.

Isak never looked close to producing his best through a testing debut season with the Reds, with it taking until November for his Premier League goal account to be opened in new surroundings. A first top-flight effort on home soil only arrived in late April - leaving his overall tally for 2025-26 at a miserly four.

A broken leg that kept him sidelined for the best part of four months did Isak’s cause few favours, but he is well aware of the need to start offering a return on the faith and funds that have been invested in him.

Quizzed on whether we will see Isak burst back into life next season, Liverpool icon Fowler - speaking exclusively to GOAL in association with BetMGM - said: “I'll be honest with you, I'm a little bit worried about this actually, because he hasn't been fit this year.

“He obviously turned up to Liverpool and he wasn't fit for whatever reason, we don't know, and we can make our own assumptions. He obviously got back into the team, looked a little bit better, then obviously broke his leg and then he was out, and then towards the end of the season, played a few games, he obviously wasn't fit. And that's right, because he just broke his leg and he was getting back into the fold of the squad.

“Then the [Sweden] squad's been picked for the World Cup and he's in it. It worries me a little bit from a Liverpool point of view, because I know he'll go and play in the World Cup. Now, whether he plays full games, I don't know, but you're not going to get the fitness that you probably had if you go into the pre-season and get the fitness behind it. And then when he comes back from the World Cup, he's going to have a short turnaround again, so I don't think he's going to be as fit as what we'd like as a Liverpool fan.

“I hope I'm proved wrong, of course I am, but it worries me slightly that he's going to come into next season and probably not get that main pre-season behind him, which is probably what he's needed.”

Isak needs to hit the ground running in 2026-27 in order to convince the Anfield faithful and new manager Andoni Iraola that he is the right option to lead the line and follow in the footsteps of Fowler and Co when it comes to filling the fabled No.9 berth.

He will, given how much he cost, be given more leeway than most in his position when it comes to rediscovering a fading spark. A club of Liverpool’s stature, though, cannot and will not wait around forever in order for one player to come good.

Pressed on whether two seasons is all that big-money signings will get at any team before inevitable questions begin to be asked of whether further reinforcements are required, Fowler added - with Dutch coach Arne Slot having already been moved on just 12 months after he delivered Premier league title glory: “Absolutely. And that's the case with the managers as well. The manager obviously didn’t deliver in the second year, so people questioned that. And as we all know, if people start questioning things, then there’s only one way you go.”

Isak is working on a six-year contract that is due to run until 2031. In order to get anywhere close to honouring that deal, he will need to move back into double figures on the goal front - at the very least - during his second campaign at Liverpool.

If he can hit that target, then the Reds - having slipped to fifth this season - should come into contention for the grandest of domestic and continental honours. Anything less than that and a fresh search for attacking inspiration may be required.