The British-record buy is a certain starter once fully fit, meaning Arne Slot is going to have some big selection calls to make
Newcastle tried to sign Hugo Ekitike to play alongside Alexander Isak this past summer. It is Liverpool, though, who are now in a position to make it happen.
With the Reds having first hijacked Newcastle's deal for Ekitike, they've now broken the British transfer record to prise Isak away from their Premier League rivals. So, as soon as the French and Swedish strikers return from international duty next week, Arne Slot will be able to make Eddie Howe's dream a reality.
Unsurprisingly, Liverpool fans are experiencing a mix of delight and disbelief right now, almost overcome with excitement at the prospect of seeing Isak in the same side as not only Ekitike, but also another new face in Florian Wirtz, the £100 million ($133m) signing from Bayer Leverkusen, and living legend Mohamed Salah.
However, while the Premier League champions cleared some space in their forward line by selling Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez this summer, and allowing Harvey Elliott to join Aston Villa on loan with a conditional obligation to buy, Slot will still have his work cut out trying to keep all of his top talents happy for the remainder of the 2025-26 campaign…
AFPThrowback to two up top?
There was a time when playing two up front was commonplace in English football. There was Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp at Arsenal, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole at Manchester United, while even Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips did an awful lot of damage together at Sunderland in the classic 'big man, small man' partnership.
Times have changed and the game has evolved, with forward lines more fluid than ever before – as Paris Saint-Germain so effectively illustrated by winning the Champions League with three wingers up front.
However, Liverpool have enjoyed a fair bit of success over the years with dynamic duos (Kevin Keegan & John Toshack, Kenny Dalglish & Ian Rush, Michael Owen & Emile Heskey, Luis Suarez & Daniel Sturridge), so might Slot consider adding Ekitike & Isak to that illustrious list?
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AdvertisementJ.LEAGUE'In football, you need to adapt'
As tall, slender, technically-gifted attackers capable of beating opponents with pace and fast feet, Isak and Ekitike are eerily similar players. Indeed, the presumption was that Newcastle wanted Ekitike to replace Isak – and that Liverpool wanted Ekitike as an alternative to Isak.
However, Eddie Howe clearly felt that the two could play together, and Slot does too. The first half of last season probably illustrates why.
Before Omar Marmoush's winter-window move from Eintracht Frankfurt to Manchester City, the Egyptian was tearing up the Bundesliga thanks in no small part to Ekitike. The pair worked wonderfully well in tandem and were directly involved in a combined 51 goals in all competitions. It's not hard, then, to imagine Isak also flourishing alongside Ekitike, who excelled as a lone striker following Marmoush's exit, but openly admits that he loves dropping deeper to pick up possession.
"I mean, I do what the coach asks me to do, but yeah, I like to do everything," the 23-year-old told Liverpool's official website. "I can't define myself only as a striker [who likes] to finish: I like to play, I like to be in the game, in the collective part of play [and] create also.
"So, I can do both – I can play alone and I like to play also with another striker and I think that’s what makes me versatile and you know now in football, you need to adapt."
Getty ImagesBox midfield?
Of course, playing two up top would have plenty of knock-on effects. Salah could obviously play more as an orthodox right winger – and the same goes for Cody Gakpo on the opposite flank – while Wirtz could remain in his classic trequartista role just behind Isak and Ekitike.
However, that would mean seriously overburdening Ryan Gravenberch at the base of the midfield. Consequently, it seems unlikely that we'll see Isak, Ekitike, Salah, Wirtz and Gakpo on the field at the same time unless Liverpool are chasing a goal in the closing stages of a game against deep-lying opposition.
Indeed, the only way a front two might work would be to have Salah and Wirtz playing as twin-10s in a 'box' midfield – a bit like Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan at Manchester City – with Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister assuming nearly all of the responsibility for protecting the defence, and the very attack-minded full-backs Milos Kerkez and Jermie Frimpong charged with providing the width.
It would be a risky ploy, though – not least because Wirtz and Salah are struggling in their usual roles right now. The former's issues are easily explicable.
As Slot has said himself, Wirtz is still getting to grips with the intensity of the Premier League and, as the attacking midfielder proved with his lively second-half display against Arsenal on Sunday, he'll definitely prove his worth at Anfield.
Salah, of course, can't use unfamiliarity with the physicality of English football as an excuse for his patch performances so far, and his first touch was worryingly poor at the weekend – but the Egyptian king has been here before, and he always bounces back.
A little patience will clearly be required, so a significant change of role really doesn't make much sense for either player at the minute. Both Wirtz and Salah should be allowed to find their very best form in their preferred positions.
Getty ImagesEkitike vs Gakpo
Consequently, it seems much more probable that Slot will continue with his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation – just with minor tactical tweaks and perhaps more changes in personnel from game to game.
One could easily envisage Ekitike excelling on the left-hand side of a narrow front three, given his propensity for drifting wide anyway. Just like Gakpo, who initially played primarily through the middle after his arrival from PSV, and indeed Isak, Ekitike is a very modern and mobile forward who loves cutting inside onto his favoured right foot, and could regularly interchange with Isak, who is also very comfortable running the channels.
If we know nothing else about Liverpool's data-obsessed recruitment team, it's that they love multi-functional forwards who press well – and Slot certainly won't be able complain about a lack of attractive options in attack once Isak is available for selection. The challenge, of course, will be ensuring that nobody's nose is put out of joint by being asked to play in a different possession or spend more time on the bench than initially anticipated.
Gakpo, for example, won't be best pleased if he's asked to give up his starting spot to accommodate Ekitike, given the Dutchman has already been directly involved in three Premier League goals this season. At the same time, it feels as if that the former Eintracht forward has to play, given his clever link-up play has been almost as impressive as his lethal finishing.