Alexander Isak’s old teammate tells Liverpool what’ll happen next after fitness woes

Alexander Isak has endured a difficult start to his Liverpool career following his British record £125m move from Newcastle United, but Nacho Monreal is backing him to come good

Nacho Monreal has tipped Alexander Isak to soon silence his doubters following his sluggish start to life at Liverpool. Isak, 26, signed for the Reds in a record-breaking £125million deal from Newcastle United in September.

However, the Sweden international has scored just once in eight appearances for the Reds, with fitness and injury problems hampering his progress since he left the Magpies.

The forward effectively went on strike to secure his departure from St. James’ Park over the summer, training alone for most of pre-season and not featuring in any of Newcastle’s friendly matches or opening Premier League fixtures.

After finally securing his blockbuster move to Liverpool, Isak was playing catch-up due to his disrupted pre-season, with both Liverpool and Sweden managing his game time carefully as a result.

His progress was further hindered when he had to be substituted at half-time during Liverpool’s Champions League win over Eintracht Frankfurt last month.

After sitting out four matches, Isak was back in the squad but remained on the bench during the Reds’ 3-0 defeat to Man City before the November international break. He then made his return from injury as a substitute for Sweden in their 4-1 loss to Switzerland, but was kept on the bench against Slovenia to avoid the risk of suspension.

Ex-Arsenal defender Monreal, who played alongside Alexander Isak at Real Sociedad for two seasons, has backed the Swedish striker to shine at Liverpool despite a challenging start.

Monreal admitted to BetMGM that Isak’s transition to Anfield hasn’t been smooth. “It’s been very difficult for Alexander [Isak],” he said. “He clearly wanted to go to Liverpool at the start of the summer transfer window.

“The fact it didn’t happen until right at the end meant he didn’t get a pre-season which has clearly had a big impact on his fitness.”

Despite this, Monreal is confident that Isak will soon hit his stride. “He’s not at his top level yet and still needs minutes on the pitch to get up to that top, top level but when he gets there, I have no doubt he’ll prove he’s one of the best strikers in the Premier League,” he continued.

Drawing on their shared history, Monreal added: “He has done it for Newcastle over the last few seasons and he’s going to do the same for Liverpool. I’ve seen first-hand how much quality he has and it’s just a matter of time before he shows it in a red shirt.

“In my opinion, he’s a brilliant signing for Liverpool. He needs time to get fit but when that happens, people will see what he can do. They paid a lot of money for him, but I don’t think you can say he’s a waste of money or anything like that.

“When you bring in a top, top striker like Isak you are going to have to pay big money for them – I doubt that when he starts scoring 20 plus goals a season many will talk about the transfer fee.”

Liverpool are back in action after the international break, hosting Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Arne Slot expressed his disappointment that Isak couldn’t play more for Sweden due to his recent injury.

“The biggest issue we’ve faced until now, and [are] still facing, is the match fitness of the players and the time they’ve missed in pre-season,” he said at his pre-match press conference. “Alex [Isak], now we were hoping [for] him to play a little bit more for the Swedish national team.

“Unfortunately, he was one yellow away from being suspended so for obvious reasons they didn’t play him the second time. But for us it would’ve been better if he had some minutes in the second game.”