Alexander Isak has been backed to return to the form that made him a £125m striker at Liverpool this coming season. Sweden legend Anders Limpar believes the Reds forward will 'score at least 15 goals' for Andoni Iraola as he aims to put a nightmare debut season behind him under the new head coach.
Isak's difficult debut campaign
Isak signed for Liverpool in a British-record deal from Newcastle United on September 1 to end a summer-long saga that saw the Sweden international effectively go on strike to force his dream move. After arriving unfit having had no real pre-season schedule, Isak took some time to build up his fitness levels and suffered a broken leg when scoring in a 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur on December 20.
That setback led to a four-month absence and the No.9 ended the campaign with just three Premier League goals as Arne Slot's men limped to a fifth-place finish on the final day of the campaign.
Limpar's confidence in his compatriot
Former Arsenal and Everton winger Limpar retains confidence in his compatriot, however, and has now backed Isak to become a major part of a new-look Liverpool going forward, with the striker set to meet Iraola later this month after a post-World Cup break.
“I'm always confident in Alexander Isak,” Limpar told Rekatochklart. “He's been struggling with the injuries. He had bad injuries with his ankle injury, with the operations and everything, and then he pulled his groin a couple of times. You can see that he wasn't back in his best form, but he is playing. And when you play the Premier League, you will never, ever, ever get to play in that heat, which I think many of the players couldn't cope with.”
Looking ahead to the new season
“I’m actually looking forward to the Premier League and Liverpool with Isak because he's looking better and better and better now, and then if he can rest up a little bit now and have a good, good pre-season. He's going to be the prospect. I can tell you now that he's going to score at least 15 goals or more.”
Isak will come up against his former side Newcastle in the first Premier League fixture under Iraola on August 23.
