Liverpool’s Record Spend: Isak, Ekitike, and the Selection Dilemma
Liverpool tore up the transfer market in the summer of 2025. Fresh from Premier League title glory and determined not to stand still, they threw money at the future.
Florian Wirtz arrived for £116m. Hugo Ekitike cost £69m. Then came the headline act: Alexander Isak, prised from St James’ Park to Anfield as the most expensive player in British football history.
It was supposed to be a statement of dominance. It quickly turned into an exercise in patience.
Big fees, bigger frustrations
On paper, it looked perfect. Wirtz, the German playmaker, to unlock defences. Ekitike, the livewire forward, to stretch them. Isak, the elegant No.9, to finish everything off.
Reality bit hard.
Wirtz never quite imposed himself as expected. The rhythm, the spark, the authority in the final third – all flickered without ever truly catching fire.
Ekitike’s season was shredded in April by an Achilles injury just as he was trying to build momentum.
Isak’s story was even more brutal. He missed pre-season, then broke his leg. By the end of the campaign, the £100m-plus striker had just four goals in all competitions. Four. For a player signed to redefine Liverpool’s attack, those numbers screamed underachievement.
The questions that followed into 2026-27 were inevitable.
Isak under the spotlight – and finally responding
By the start of the new season, the 26-year-old found himself under the microscope again. Form, fitness, mentality – all up for debate.
This time, though, the response has been sharper.
Isak has hit three goals in his last two Premier League games, hinting that the version Liverpool thought they had signed might finally be emerging. The movement looks crisper. The finishes more assured. The body language less burdened.
For now, Andoni Iraola doesn’t have to agonise over who leads the line. The shirt belongs to Isak on merit, not price tag.
That luxury might not last.
Ekitike’s return and the “fortunate” question
Ekitike is expected back around the turn of the year. When he’s fit, he changes the picture. He’s not just a deputy; he’s a genuine starter in his own right.
So has Isak been lucky? Has he effectively had a free run at the No.9 role while searching for form, simply because the main challenger was stuck in the treatment room?
Jermaine Pennant doesn’t buy that.
Speaking to GOAL in association with NetBet Casino, the former Liverpool winger pushed back on the idea that Isak has been protected by circumstance.
“I wouldn't say fortunate because I think they would have found a way maybe to play them both,” Pennant said.
He pointed to timing. When Ekitike went down, Cody Gakpo was struggling. Ekitike likes to drift off that left flank, cutting in on his right – the sort of role Gakpo has often filled.
“We know that Ekitike likes to drift out to the left, so it wouldn't have surprised me if at some point Isak would have started down the middle, Ekitike may have gone on to the left-hand side and come in on his right foot like Gakpo does and sometimes join up as two number nines,” Pennant added.
The message was clear: quality forces its way onto the pitch.
“They are two good players, great players and you can't have a player like that sitting on your bench. They would have made a way, I think, for them both to play at some point.”
When Ekitike is finally available again, Iraola may have to prove Pennant right.
Robbie Fowler’s warning
Inside Anfield, no one needed reminding of the stakes for Isak this season. Outside, one voice carried extra weight.
Robbie Fowler, still revered as ‘God’ on the red half of Merseyside, admitted to GOAL before the campaign that he was worried – not about the talent, but about whether Isak could stay fit and live up to the billing.
He framed it bluntly: this has to be the year the Swede comes good if Liverpool are to park any thoughts of another major attacking signing.
“Absolutely. And that's the case with the managers as well,” Fowler said, drawing a line between players and the man in the dugout.
“The manager [Arne Slot] obviously didn’t deliver in the second year, so people questioned that. And as we all know, if people start questioning things, then there’s only one way you go.”
The implication hung heavy. At a club like Liverpool, nobody is safe from scrutiny – not the coach, not the record signing.
Goals, doubts and a fresh £123m headache
Isak has shown flashes that he’s listening. He scored in the league against Nottingham Forest and Ipswich, important strikes for confidence as much as for the table.
Europe, though, reminded him the job is far from done.
In Liverpool’s opening Champions League match of 2026-27, a comeback 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid at Anfield, Isak failed to find the net again. The team got over the line. Their main striker did not.
Just as he tries to settle, the club have raised the bar again.
Liverpool have poured another £123m into the front line, this time on France international winger Bradley Barcola. Another explosive wide option. Another elite attacker who expects to start, not watch.
Barcola’s arrival adds a new layer to Iraola’s selection puzzle. Wirtz searching for consistency. Ekitike edging back to fitness. Gakpo fighting to rediscover his best. Isak trying to prove he is the man to build around. Barcola demanding minutes worthy of his fee.
The spending spree that began in 2025 was about refreshing a champion squad. Two years on, it has created something else entirely: a frontline packed with talent, heavy with expectation, and still waiting to show whether it can truly live up to the money.
When Ekitike is back, and Barcola is fully embedded, the real question won’t be what Liverpool paid.
It will be this: who can deliver often enough to make themselves undroppable in one of the most expensive attacks the Premier League has ever seen?
