The ECHO takes a closer look at how Liverpool might plan for life without Alexander Isak for the time being, with the £125m striker set to be sidelined for some time with a leg injury
If it wasn’t for bad luck, as the old saying goes, then Alexander Isak would have none at all. The Liverpool striker is facing up to a significant amount of time on the sidelines with an MRI scan expected to confirm a broken leg for the £125m striker.
The issue occurred when the substitute raced on to Florian Wirtz’s pass to fire the Reds ahead in their 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening. Isak was caught by a scrambling Micky van de Ven and it was the forward’s last act as he was forced off with the help of Dr Jonathan Power and Chris Morgan, two members of the Reds’ medical department.
Scan results on Monday are expected to confirm a leg break and Arne Slot will be in position to offer a more fulsome update when he speaks to the media on Tuesday to preview the visit from rock-bottom Wolves on December 27.
So, just how do Liverpool now plan for the second half of their season without their No.9 for at least a considerable portion of it? The ECHO’S Liverpool FC correspondent Paul Gorst has taken a look at what options are available for the Reds.
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Enter the market?
The obvious answer is for Liverpool to dip into the transfer market to bolster their forward line. After a summer spend that, remarkably, veered close to the £450m mark, it’s almost unbecoming of Liverpool to talk about spending more.
Throwing money at a problem has not always been Liverpool’s way of operating and even when the options have been ludicrously threadbare – the great centre-back shortage of 2020/21, for example – the Reds have not always been given the green light to try and eradicate the problem.
It’s why there is no certainty that the champions will use the market to ease the burden on the shallow pool of front players who are fit and available to Slot.
Having said that, links to Antoine Semenyo of Bournemouth are not new and Liverpool have been keeping tabs on the Ghana international’s situation at the Vitality Stadium for some time.
The Reds are not alone on that front and Semenyo is being tracked by a number of clubs that reportedly include Manchester United and City but with a release clause said to be at around the £65m mark, this feels within Liverpool’s hitting zone.
Sporting director Richard Hughes has a leg-up on Liverpool’s transfer rivals for Semenyo given he will be privy to the specifics of the attacker’s contract details at Bournemouth. That could be crucial in an arms race over the release clause.
Interest in the 25-year-old has never been denied at Liverpool and while Semenyo would not necessarily be a like-for-like for Isak, who is a more traditional No.9, only Igor Thiago (11) and Erling Haaland (19) have scored more than his tally of eight and there was already a debate prior to the Sweden international’s injury about Liverpool needing more depth in wide forward areas.
Mohamed Salah return
With Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign getting underway on Monday night against Zimbabwe, Mohamed Salah will be conspicuous only by his absence at Liverpool in the coming weeks.
But his return to Merseyside, whenever that may be, should mean an instant recall to the side. The No.11 responded in frustrated style to being dropped from the side, going public with an explosive post-match interview at Leeds United earlier this month on the back of three successive starts on the bench.
The fallout from that led to Salah being left at home for the Champions League trip to Inter before an apology behind the scenes to Slot saw him recalled for the squad that beat Brighton & Hove Albion on December 13.
It’s understood there are still some concerns inside the coaching staff at Anfield as to how open the Reds are when Salah is deployed on that right side of the attack but Slot is going to have to call on the third highest goalscorer of all time on Merseyside when he returns from Morocco.
Slot, whose side are unbeaten in six since Salah was dropped to the bench, has tweaked the system to a midfield diamond in the Egyptian’s absence, fielding the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai and Florian Wirtz in the team rather than more recongised forward players.
A recall for Salah, though, will mean a change in the system to station him wide right in his trademark position.
Cotton wool for Ekitike
A lengthy absence of Isak will mean even more burden will be placed on the shoulders of Hugo Ekitike, who scored his 11th goal of the season on Saturday when he headed home the Reds’ second of the game.
Ekitike has enjoyed a superb few months at Anfield and he has more than double the next highest scorers at Anfield, with both Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo on five apiece.
If Isak is to be out for some time, though, Slot will be determined to wrap Ekitike in cotton wool, meaning he won’t be risked or stretched to breaking point while the options are so thin.
The No.22 will lead the line against Wolves on December 27 and then likely Leeds United on New Year’s Day but with trips to Fulham and Arsenal also to come early next month, Slot will almost certainly leave him out for the FA Cup fixture at home to Barnsley on January 12.
Slot cited cramp for the reason why Ekitike was withdrawn during the recent win over Brighton and Liverpool’s medical staff will have to keep a close eye on the former Eintracht Frankfurt man now.
The resting and the rotating of Ekitike will have to be handled carefully, the last thing Slot needs now is for his other big-money summer signing to pull up injured. A setback for him is unthinkable with Salah away and Gakpo and Isak on the shelf.
The door opens for Chiesa?
Federico Chiesa has started just one Premier League fixture for the Reds since his £12m move from Juventus in August of last year, which came in May at Brighton, after the Reds had secured the title.
The likeable Italian has shown flashes of his quality this term, most notably with a well-taken volley against Bournemouth in August, but Slot has been reluctant to use him from the start, even when Salah has fallen out of favour.
But with the numbers lower than they have been for some time, Chiesa remains one of the few senior forward players available to Slot right now. Seventeen-year-old Rio Nugmoha is also part of the squad list but it would be a huge risk to place too much responsibility on such a young player at an important part of the campaign.
Chiesa, it should be stressed, has made an impact this term. He was man of the match in the Carabao Cup victory over Southampton in September, supplying assists for both Isak and Ekitike, while he has scored in the Premier League against Bournemouth and Crystal Palace and an assist against Manchester United.
For a player who has played just 160 minutes in the Premier League, it is a significant return at a time when the side generally look laboured and bereft of ideas in the final third.
The versatile Chiesa can operate across the entire frontline and while Slot hasn’t always given the former Juve man a fair crack of the whip, it could be a case of need-must in the coming weeks.
Harvey Elliott recall?
A left-field option could involve Harvey Elliott, who remains on the fringes at Aston Villa, who are enjoying a fine season under Unai Emery.
The midfielder needs to make 10 appearances in total before Villa are obligated to complete their £35m agreement, having signed Elliott on loan on transfer deadline day.
However, the England Under-21 hero does not feature in the plans of Emery, who has selected the likes of an in-form Morgan Rogers, Emi Buendia and Ross Barkley ahead of the the 22-year-old this term.
With Villa also keen to steer clear of any issues around the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Regulations, spending £35m on a player who isn’t hugely fancied by the manager seems unlikely. But having played for the Reds against Newcastle in August, the former Fulham teenager cannot be registered for another club this season.
It’s become accepted that Elliott was signed by former sporting director Monchi, who left Villa Park around three weeks after the loan deal was arranged with Liverpool and with Villa now up to third in the Premier League, a path to the first team in Birmingham looks further away than ever for the Reds midfielder.
Does that open the door at Anfield once more? Elliott, like Chiesa, only started his first Premier League game under Slot after the title had been clinched and with the competition for places increased the captures of Isak, Ekitike and more specifically Florian Wirtz, the writing appeared on the wall all summer.
With Liverpool’s options thinning at a time when it is evident that he is nowhere near a first-team breakthrough at Villa, is there a world where Elliott now returns to his boyhood club?
