Former Liverpool and England striker Emile Heskey believes Alexander Isak is finally beginning to justify his £125m price tag. The comments come after the Swedish forward withdrew from international duty with a thigh injury, casting doubt on his availability for Liverpool's clash with Manchester City.
Isak's Liverpool journey so far
It is 13 months since Isak became the most expensive player in British football history when he swapped Newcastle United for Liverpool on transfer deadline day. His debut season on Merseyside failed to go according to plan for the Swedish striker.
Arriving underprepared following a disrupted pre-season, which arose from the acrimonious circumstances surrounding his departure from Tyneside, Isak subsequently sustained a series of minor injuries before breaking his leg in December, ruling him out for four months.
However, the 27-year-old has looked increasingly reminiscent of the player who netted 44 times across two Premier League campaigns for United, contributing four goals for Andoni Iraola's unbeaten Reds, including a match-winner in their most recent outing at Bournemouth prior to the international break.
Heskey's verdict on Isak's form
Heskey, who himself became a club-record acquisition at Anfield when he arrived for £11m from Leicester City in 2000, believes Isak is rediscovering his best form so far this campaign.
"I'm not sure about what to add to his game because he is what he is," Heskey told Rekatochklart.com. "I like his movement. He's getting chances, and creating chances," reports the Liverpool Echo.
"You're going to miss some anyway. I love the runs that he's making. He looks sharper now, like he was when he was at Newcastle. That comes with games, the more and more you play.
"I like his movement, I like his runs. I think he's coming back to his best now because people are seeing him making the runs now.
"The second goal against Ipswich where he made the run in behind for Cody Gakpo who passed it with the outside of his boot.
"If you go back a little bit, just before he makes that run for Gakpo, he's made a run for Virgil (van Dijk) who doesn't play it. He turns around and he's like throwing his hands around and then he realises Gakpo's got it, and he comes back onside and makes the second run."
Heskey told Rekatochklart.com: "See there's times when you're making runs and people are not even looking at you. At times we look at forwards and they're making runs and no one really wants to play them. He's not a player who's going to play it back to goal.
"He wants to make runs in behind to then run on to the ball and have chances of squaring up with the defender and taking them on.
"So I think they're finding him a little bit more with that. I'm not too sure what other parts of his game he needs to brush up. I quite like everything about him. Maybe his hold up play, but again they don't really play like that."
Injury scare and City clash
Isak picked up a thigh problem while on international duty and travelled back to Merseyside at the beginning of the week for additional evaluation by Liverpool's medical team. Sweden manager Graham Potter maintained the issue was not serious.
He said: "He's got a small problem with his thigh. It's not a big one but because of the amount of games we've got in a small space of time, he won't be able to make those.
"Not a big one but it's frustrating for him and obviously for us. It is what it is but we move forward with the players we have.
"It was during the game. Like anything, you sometimes get bumps and bruises in the game, you might think it's a bit of a dead leg or something. But actually as the 24 hours, 48 hours after the game, not quite what you think.
"Unfortunately after getting it checked out, it's a little bit more than what you think during the match. He has to miss the rest of the camp.
"Our medical team has been in contact with the club. Obviously it's our decision in the first place because of his status, in terms of his injury. Once that's the case, we have to inform everybody. That's just normal."
The Reds are also concerned about Gakpo's availability after he pulled out of the Netherlands squad having sustained an ankle problem in their 2-1 Nations League triumph over Serbia on Sunday. Liverpool resume their campaign on Sunday, October 11 with a huge Premier League fixture at home to Manchester City.
