Alexander Isak's Transformation: Liverpool's £125m Striker Shines
Alexander Isak walked into Portman Road as Liverpool’s £125m question mark. He left as the answer.
Two goals in the first nine minutes, a 2-0 win, Andoni Iraola’s first Premier League victory as Liverpool manager, and the sense that a transfer saga which once looked like pure indulgence might finally make sense.
Yes, it came against a newly promoted Ipswich Town side who conceded five at Manchester United last week and again looked vulnerable when exposed to top-level pace and movement. But context only explains so much. This was the night Isak started to resemble the forward Liverpool tore up the British transfer record to prise out of Newcastle United – and the night Cody Gakpo reminded everyone why keeping him at Anfield might prove every bit as important as signing anyone new.
Isak unleashed, Gakpo conducting
For much of last season, Isak cut a forlorn figure. He arrived out of shape after forcing his way out of Tyneside, then stumbled through an injury-riddled year that made him look less like a marquee signing and more like an extravagant mistake.
The numbers were brutal. Twenty-two games, 1,033 minutes, four goals. Just three in the league across 703 minutes – one every 234 minutes. Hugo Ekitike outshone him. Liverpool’s title defence crumbled. Arne Slot lost his job a year after lifting the trophy. Isak became a symbol of a club that had lost its bearings.
Here, he looked reborn.
Iraola used him exactly as Newcastle once did: on the shoulder, running in behind, pressing with intent, living off the spaces Gakpo carved open. The difference was immediate, and devastating.
On six minutes, Gakpo slid a clever pass between Leif Davis and Jacob Greaves. Isak burst through, thrashed a right-foot shot at goal and, while Kjell Scherpen should have done far better than help it into his own net, the power and conviction in the strike told its own story. A centre-forward playing on instinct again, not overthinking every movement.
Three minutes later, Liverpool produced something close to perfection.
From inside his own half, Gakpo bent an outrageous outside-of-the-boot pass straight into Isak’s path. One touch with his left to move inside Greaves as Scherpen advanced, a feint with his right to send the keeper the wrong way, then a cool left-foot finish rolled into the corner.
From Gakpo’s audacity to Isak’s composure, it was elite football in three touches. Game done before Ipswich had even settled.
The £125m problem becomes a weapon
Isak’s season had not started smoothly. He was poor on his return to Tyneside on the opening day. Even his goal in the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest did not quiet the questions. Was this really the same player who terrorised defences for Newcastle? Or had Liverpool bought a mirage?
At Portman Road, the doubts eased. This was the Isak Liverpool thought they were signing: aggressive, direct, ruthless. The body language changed. The shoulders were higher, the runs sharper, the pressing more honest.
He has already matched last season’s league tally. More importantly, he looked like a centre-forward who finally understands his role in Iraola’s system – and a manager who understands how to get him there.
Iraola was clear about the scale of the player at his disposal. “He’s a massive player for us,” the Liverpool manager said. The goals, he insisted, will come if Isak stays fit. His demands will be about the rest of the job: how the Swede helps the team in other phases, how he sustains the intensity. Two full games already, goals flowing, fitness returning. The satisfaction was obvious.
Isak himself did not hide from how difficult last season had been. A long injury, a team in crisis, a World Cup he had wanted to use as a springboard. That plan collapsed. Now, with a normal pre-season behind him and Liverpool playing on the front foot, he feels the reset.
They wanted a fast start here. They got it. Two goals early, control of the game, and chances for more.
Portman Road, too, is turning into his personal playground. Since the start of the 2024-25 campaign, his five Premier League goals at this ground are the joint-most by any player at a single away venue, level with Erling Haaland’s five at Selhurst Park.
Gakpo’s sliding-doors summer
Isak dominated the scoreboard. Gakpo dominated everything else.
The Dutch forward could easily have spent this weekend preparing for Manchester City’s fixture against Coventry City at Etihad Stadium. He was open to joining Enzo Maresca’s new project, ready to step into a different kind of rebuild. The move only fell apart when Liverpool failed to land Yankuba Minteh from Brighton or Ismaila Sarr from Crystal Palace.
So he stayed. Liverpool may end up grateful that a transfer chain snapped.
This was Gakpo at his most elegant and incisive: two assists, yes, but also a complete performance between the lines. He dictated tempo, found pockets of space, and repeatedly turned Ipswich’s back line with his passing range. The outside-of-the-boot pass for Isak’s second goal will be replayed for weeks, yet it was in keeping with a night where he looked a level above.
Virgil van Dijk, his captain for club and country, did not hide his relief that Gakpo is still in red. The defender has long argued his compatriot is central to Liverpool’s plans. On this evidence, it is hard to disagree.
Gakpo struggled last season like so many others in a disjointed side. This version is sharper, more decisive, and playing with the confidence of someone who knows the team is built to suit his strengths.
Barcola’s glimpse, Iraola’s template
Bradley Barcola’s debut was always going to be a subplot, yet even a £123m signing from Paris St-Germain had to accept a supporting role on a night like this.
Given 26 minutes, the Frenchman showed exactly why Liverpool paid so heavily for him: devastating pace, a willingness to attack defenders, and a directness that will terrify tiring back lines. It was only a glimpse, but it fitted neatly into the broader picture of what Iraola wants.
High tempo. Aggressive pressing. Forwards running into space rather than waiting for the game to come to them.
Against an Ipswich side who were brave but brittle, the plan looked clean and coherent. The caveat is obvious: tougher tests await. Liverpool’s win, their first of the league season, came against a side already leaking goals at this level. You can only beat what is in front of you, though, and Iraola’s players did so with authority.
From false dawn to foundation?
Isak called this first win “perfect” in terms of how Liverpool started the game. He talked about being more offensive, about attacking defences, about finally playing in the way the team has been working towards. His own nightmare first season, he said, is now “kind of behind” him.
Liverpool will hope that is true. Iraola cannot afford this to be another false dawn, another night where Isak shines briefly only to vanish into inconsistency and frustration.
For now, the picture is brighter. The £125m striker is scoring, smiling, and sprinting again. Gakpo, the man who almost left, is orchestrating. Barcola has shown a flash of what is to come.
If this is the new Liverpool under Iraola, the real question is not whether Isak has finally arrived – but how far this front line can take them once the opposition is no longer “ripe for the picking” and the real battles begin.
