Liverpool are again in motion on Sunday as they put together to tackle Premier League rivals Newcastle United at Wembley within the last of the League Cup.
Arne Slot’s aspect had been knocked out of the Champions League on penalties by Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday evening, and had been knocked out of the FA Cup by Plymouth Argyle final month.
Which means this conflict with the Magpies within the capital is the membership’s final probability so as to add a cup trophy on high of what looks like an inevitable Premier League title success.
Liverpool made the ultimate of this competitors by beating Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 within the second leg of their semi-final conflict with Ange Postecoglou’s aspect.
They now face a wonderful Newcastle staff, managed by Eddie Howe, however are boosted by the Magpies lacking Sven Botman, Anthony Gordon, and Lewis Corridor.
Regardless of these key gamers being out, the Toon Military are a harmful aspect to play towards as a result of they’ve Alexander Isak within the centre-forward place.
Why Liverpool ought to worry Alexander Isak
Liverpool needs to be cautious of the Sweden worldwide’s risk on Sunday as a result of he has confirmed himself to be a deadly quantity 9 for the Magpies in latest seasons.
The 25-year-old marksman joined Newcastle from Actual Sociedad in the summertime of 2022 and has scored 57 targets in 99 appearances for the membership up to now.
Isak has, subsequently, averaged greater than a objective each different recreation for the Magpies throughout his profession in England up to now, which speaks to the risk he provides on the high finish of the pitch.
The Swedish star has confirmed himself to be top-of-the-line forwards in Europe along with his skill to seek out the again of the web on a constant foundation, while additionally being a artistic presence for his aspect.
Males’s large 5 leagues & European comps | ||
|---|---|---|
Final twelve months | Isak (per 90) | Percentile rank v forwards |
Non-penalty targets | 0.71 | Prime 6% |
Non-penalty xG | 0.63 | Prime 5% |
Anticipated Assisted Objectives | 0.20 | Prime 10% |
Assists | 0.22 | Prime 16% |
Shot-creating actions | 3.41 | Prime 10% |
Stats by way of FBref | ||
As you possibly can see within the desk above, Isak ranks extremely extremely amongst strikers within the high leagues in Europe in a number of key attacking metrics, which illustrates simply how efficient he has been for Newcastle over the past twelve months.
The Magpies star has scored 19 targets from 15.55 xG within the Premier League up to now this season, a tally solely Erling Haaland (20) and Mo Salah (27) have crushed.
Due to this fact, Liverpool ought to worry Isak and be very cautious of his potential risk once they come to face Newcastle within the League Cup last on Sunday, and they are going to be very conscious of him provided that the membership have a reported curiosity in signing the ahead.
Liverpool’s curiosity in Alexander Isak
CaughtOffside experiences that the Reds are involved in bringing the previous Borussia Dortmund marksman to Anfield within the upcoming summer time switch window.
The report provides that Liverpool are additionally eager on his teammates Gordon and Corridor, who won’t be out there for the League Cup last, because the membership plot strikes to bolster their squad forward of subsequent season.
Nonetheless, The Athletic’s David Ornstein lately revealed that it may take a payment of round £150m to persuade the Magpies to half methods with Isak, and that might be a club-record deal for Liverpool.
It now stays to be seen whether or not or not the Reds are ready to splash the money and smash information to deliver the Swedish sensation to Anfield to enhance Slot’s attacking choices in the summertime, as £150m is an extremely vital amount of cash to pay.
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Liverpool have, as an alternative, had success prior to now with signing strikers for comparatively modest charges and untapping their potential, reasonably than shopping for the completed product immediately.
Former Reds icon Luis Suarez is a good instance of that as they hit the jackpot once they snapped him up from Ajax, earlier than he proved himself in Europe’s main leagues.
Liverpool hit the jackpot with Luis Suarez
Within the January switch window of the 2010/11 marketing campaign, Liverpool swooped to signal Suarez from the Dutch giants for a reported payment of simply £22.8m – lower than 20% of what Isak would value within the current day.
That turned out to be an absolute cut price of a payment for the membership as a result of the Uruguay worldwide, who had scored 111 targets in 159 matches for Ajax, went on to turn out to be a celebrity on Merseyside.
Suarez, as you possibly can see within the clips above, was able to the spectacular throughout his time at Anfield, as he bought supporters off their toes along with his weekly shows of magic within the last third.
The prolific ahead went on to attain 82 targets and supply 31 assists in 133 matches for Liverpool in all competitions, earlier than Barcelona got here calling in the summertime of 2014.
Suarez joined the Spanish giants for a reported payment of £75m forward of the 2014/15 marketing campaign, which meant that the Reds made an enormous revenue on the £22.8m they paid for him – displaying that they hit the jackpot by signing him from Ajax for such a modest payment.
The mercurial ahead, who was known as “world-class” by Brendan Rodgers, then went on to get pleasure from a shocking spell on the Nou Camp, scoring 195 targets and offering 113 assists in 283 video games, and has – up to now – had an excellent higher profession than Isak.
15/16 LaLiga | Luis Suarez |
|---|---|
Appearances | 35 |
Objectives | 40 |
Minutes per objective | 79 |
Photographs on course | 70 |
Conversion fee | 29% |
Large probabilities created | 21 |
Assists | 16 |
Stats by way of Sofascore | |
As you possibly can see within the desk above, Suarez has had a 40-goal, with 56 complete objective involvements, season in certainly one of Europe’s main leagues in his profession.
In complete, the striker has hit 20 or extra targets on six events in LaLiga or the Premier League for Liverpool, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid mixed. Whereas, Isak – who turns 26 this yr – solely has one such season in his profession and has but to attain greater than 21 targets in a single league marketing campaign at first-team stage.
This reveals that the Swedish ahead has not had a profession pretty much as good as Suarez’s, but, as he has not been anyplace close to as prolific on the largest levels, and that’s the reason a payment of £150m for him could also be a bit excessive at this second in time.
Liverpool could also be higher off attempting to unearth one other diamond, as they did with the Uruguay worldwide, as an alternative of smashing their club-record switch payment to land the Newcastle man.
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