It's okay to accept the truth about Alexander Isak at Liverpool

There's a difficult truth about Alexander Isak that Liverpool must accept. But that's okay - there's no way around it.

Liverpool rocked world football in the summer as they broke the British transfer record to sign Alexander Isak from Newcastle United. It wasn't just that they'd broken the record, though, but that they'd already spent £100m on Florian Wirtz earlier in the window.

That just showed the faith they had in Isak, though. Liverpool were after a transformative centre-forward - someone who could deliver all the things we'd wished Darwin Núñez could.

It hasn't started well. Isak had lost his first four league starts for Liverpool, becoming the first Red to do so since 1906. He has no league goals and barely gets involved in attacks.

That's all really bad, of course. It's led to a lot of pressure on Isak and a lot of opinions on what's gone wrong.

But it's okay to admit the truth about the signing. It's important Liverpool do, in fact.

Alexander Isak's arrival

The fact is, Isak's move to Liverpool was an absolute disaster. The Reds essentially forced themselves to make it happen in the end, having given their word to the player that they'd sign him if he were available.

But the manner in which he became available made the transfer near-impossible to work. Isak went on strike, failing to report for training with Newcastle and playing no pre-season games.

The actual season then kicked off and Isak still didn't show up. He wanted his move to Liverpool and wouldn't give Newcastle another minute of football.

Whatever you think of all that is irrelevant. The point is that Liverpool spent £130m on a player who wasn't close to fitness and was completely unprepared to drop into this team.

Not having a pre-season has an enormous effect on a player and it clearly has on Isak. He's playing catchup - something that has led to a few injuries already.

Liverpool actually did something similar last season when they bought Federico Chiesa. The decision was that he needed that pre-season before he could play properly and so he dropped out of the squad for a long time.

The club appear unwilling to do that with Isak. That's quite understandable given the money they spent but it also means they're trying to force a player into their team who looks miles off it.

Now, Isak has a six-year contract with Liverpool. What happens in the first few months shouldn't be how we judge a signing.

However, these months have been ridiculously bad and could ultimately cost people their jobs. Liverpool are only a few more defeats away from being complete outsiders for UEFA Champions League football next season - and that would be a financial disaster.

Then we absolutely will look back at this transfer and wonder why Liverpool went all-in on a player who wasn't going to effect at least half the season. But they can try to salvage things.

Isak cannot be relied upon, it seems. Liverpool instead need to reshape their options with the January window and essentially admit that their record signing can only be a luxury player for now.

They took a much bigger risk with this transfer than was reported at the time, given his lack of pre-season. That risk is now clear for all to see but admitting that the risk has not paid off is the only move. Liverpool must react.

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