Football fans far and wide, heading into the 2025/26 Premier League season, must have been expecting that Liverpool would continue their domestic dominance.
It started well for Arne Slot’s Reds, too, as they went about defending their status as reigning champions, with five straight wins picked up in league action in the early stages of the campaign.
However, since they got the better of Everton in the Merseyside Derby in mid-September, it has all gone rather pear-shaped for the Reds, with an alarming six defeats now collected in all competitions, pushing them down to a dire seventh position in the Premier League standings.
Things have to change, and quickly, with many of the players Slot and Co. purchased in the summer failing to live up to their grand expectations.
Liverpool’s most underwhelming signings
Liverpool really didn’t hold back this summer when breaking the bank.
Indeed, a jaw-dropping £415m in total was spent on revamping the Reds, with the triumphant top-flight champions waving goodbye to the likes of Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, and Trent Alexander-Arnold in the summer for mega money.
Unfortunately, despite sitting at the top of this above list with their spending power, a lot of their high-profile signings have flopped so far at Anfield, with Florian Wirtz – who cost a whopping £116m just on his own – still yet to pick up a single goal or assist in league action, culminating in the German being labelled as “pretty average” by ex-Liverpool midfielder, and compatriot, Dietmar Hamann.
Milos Kerkez has also been subject to some scathing criticism, with the £40m recruit looking like a shadow of his expansive AFC Bournemouth best, particularly against Crystal Palace last time out in the EFL Cup, as Ismaila Sarr confidently collected two goals down his left flank.
Another former Liverpool favourite in Jason McAteer, has even suggested that the move to the Reds was “too big for him”, amid concerns he looks “lost” donning the number six jersey.
Thankfully, Hugo Ekitike has shone in spurts as another flashy new signing, but there is one dud that is extremely concerning now, as Slot potentially has to contend with his own Naby Keita-style blunder.
The £280k-per-week star who is Slot’s own Keita
Glancing over Liverpool’s most expensive signings of all time is an intriguing read.
Of course, they struck gold when landing Virgil Van Dijk for £75m as he remains the club’s top leader to this day. But, when you
scroll down more, you’re then greeted by Keita’s name, who is still Liverpool’s eighth most expensive recruit at the £48m mark.
Keita did, of course, have a stunning goal up his sleeve at Liverpool – as evidenced in this glittering highlight package – but he didn’t consistently shine bright enough to justify his once club-record fee, with injuries galore often stopping him in his tracks.
Fast forward to the present, and an eerily similar tale could now be unfolding with Alexander Isak, with the ex-Newcastle United striker – who is prone to an injury niggle himself – yet to get up and running at Anfield, after breaking the Reds’ transfer record when joining in the summer for a ludicrous £125m.
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Isak’s numbers this season |
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|---|---|
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Stat |
Isak |
|
Games played |
8 |
|
Goals scored |
1 |
|
Assists |
1 |
|
Games missed through injury |
5 |
|
Sourced by Transfermarkt |
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After all, Liverpool must have thought they’d sealed the signing of the window when landing the £280k-per-week hotshot, considering he was once branded as a “world-class” talent at Newcastle United by ex-boss Eddie Howe when burying a lethal 62 strikes from 109 games.
But, caution should have been exercised here in trying to temper expectations, considering Jurgen Klopp also hailed Keita as the “best player in the league” in the Bundesliga when sealing his services, only for everything to fall apart.
Indeed, as is the case looking at the table above, Isak has only one paltry goal next to his name so far in his uncomfortable new surroundings, with the extortionate number nine already falling foul of sitting out five games for club and country this season through injury issues.
The hope will be that it doesn’t get as bad as Keita’s injury situation got, with his penultimate season in England seeing him miss a staggering 40 games with recurring trips to the treatment room.
He looks set to miss Liverpool’s must-win clash with Aston Villa on the weekend, to add insult to injury.
Isak, additionally, has the pressure of being known as a lethal goalscorer weighing him down, as the burden of being Liverpool’s most expensive signing proves, yet again, to be a debilitating hindrance, rather than a badge of honour.
The Reds waited a year for Keita to arrive, after initially signing him in advance in 2017, only for the move to end in disappointment.
Having waded through a whole summer saga before landing Isak, it looks as if the Swede could be heading for similar frustration at Anfield.
