Being a striker at any level brings the expectation of scoring goals and winning matches.
The intensity of that pressure rises the further up the football pyramid you climb.
As a forward operating at the Premier League level, you should be one of the best in the business.
Nobody lands a top-flight chance by accident, with such opportunities earned through a combination of hard work and elite ability.
When you reach the very top of the ladder, transfer fees also have to be factored into the equation.
The bigger the price tag hanging around any given neck, the more eyes are on said player to perform.
Record-breaking transfer
Liverpool spent heavily in the summer of 2025, with the sports betting markets expecting the Reds to have a chance to successfully defend their Premier League title, priced at 9.05 behind Arsenal and Manchester City as of late November.
Heavyweights from Anfield are always going to figure prominently in football tips as a star-studded cast of international talent has been assembled on Merseyside, with many of those already in the trophy-winning habit.
Alexander Isak now shines brightly in that galaxy, with the Swedish frontman smashing records and rewriting the history books when trading the North East of England at Newcastle for the North West.
He is the most elaborate purchase that British football has ever seen, with Liverpool having to part with £125 million in order to secure his signature.
His pedigree is beyond question, but will he have an immediate impact in new surroundings?
Slot has been eager to dim some of the spotlight being flashed in Isak’s direction, saying: “We have not just signed him for the upcoming two weeks, we have signed him for six years so this is what we have to keep in mind, and what fans have to keep in mind if I take him off or only bring him in for a few moments.”
Calls for calm are to be expected, but patience can wear thin when such eye-watering figures are involved.
Isak knows he will have to hit the ground running to avoid uncomfortable questions.
He has, after all, been acquired to help carry some of the goal-scoring burden that Mohamed Salah has been shouldering at Anfield for so long.
The four-time Premier League Golden Boot winner has fared admirably in that task, but would welcome some assistance.
Exclusive Goal Club
Isak enjoyed two 20-goal campaigns in the Premier League at Newcastle, with the plan being to replicate that output with Liverpool.
Those numbers could be considered the very least of his ambitions, as he endeavours to reward a historic show of faith. If he is to do that, then he will join an exclusive club.
Salah has posted 20-plus goals in the top tier of English football on five occasions, but only one Liverpool team-mate has reached the same benchmark across eight seasons.
That man was Sadio Mane in 2018-19.
Isak is capable of becoming the third member of that group, as he certainly knows his way to the back of the net, and he may have to if the aforementioned levels of expectation are to be matched – never mind exceeded – in an era dominated by Liverpool’s ‘Egyptian King’.
