Newcastle tried to sign Hugo Ekitike to play alongside Alexander Isak this past summer. It is ليفربول, 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 الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز 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 باير ليفركوزن، والأسطورة الحية محمد صلاح.
However, while the Premier League champions cleared some space in their forward line by selling لويس Diaz and Darwin Nunez this summer, and allowing Harvey Elliott to join أستون فيلا 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…
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…
كان هناك وقت كان فيه اللعب باثنين في خط الهجوم أمرًا شائعًا في كرة القدم الإنجليزية. كان هناك تييري هنري ودينيس بيركامب في أرسنال، ودوايت يورك وآندي كول في مانشستر يونايتد, while even Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips did an awful lot of damage together at سندرلاند في الشراكة الكلاسيكية بين "الرجل الكبير والرجل الصغير".
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 دوري أبطال أوروبا مع ثلاثة أجنحة في المقدمة.
ومع ذلك، فقد استمتع ليفربول بقدر لا بأس به من النجاح على مر السنين مع الثنائي الديناميكي (كيفن كيغان وجون توشاك، كيني دالجليش و إيان راش، مايكل أوين و إميل هيسكي، لويس سواريز و دانيال ستوريدج)، لذلك قد يفكر سلوت في إضافة إكيتيكي و إيزاك إلى تلك القائمة الشهيرة؟
نظراً لكونهما مهاجمين طويلي القامة، نحيفين، وموهوبين تقنياً، قادرين على هزيمة الخصوم بسرعة ومهارة، فإن إيزاك وإيكيتيكي لاعبان متشابهان بشكل غريب. في الواقع، كان من المفترض أن نيوكاسل أراد إيزاك بديلاً له، وأن ليفربول أراد إيزاك بديلاً له.
مع ذلك، شعر إيدي هاو بوضوح أنهما قادران على اللعب معًا، وسلوت كذلك. ولعلّ النصف الأول من الموسم الماضي يوضح السبب.
قبل انتقال عمر مرموش في فترة الانتقالات الشتوية من آينتراخت فرانكفورت 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.
أعني، أفعل ما يطلبه مني المدرب، ولكن نعم، أحب القيام بكل شيء،" صرّح اللاعب البالغ من العمر 23 عامًا للموقع الرسمي لليفربول. "لا يمكنني تعريف نفسي كمهاجم فقط [يحب] إنهاء الهجمات: أحب اللعب، وأحب أن أكون جزءًا من المباراة، وفي الجانب الجماعي من اللعب [و] الإبداع أيضًا.
"لذا، يمكنني القيام بالأمرين - يمكنني اللعب بمفردي وأحب اللعب أيضًا مع مهاجم آخر وأعتقد أن هذا ما يجعلني متعدد الاستخدامات كما تعلم الآن في كرة القدم، تحتاج إلى التكيف."
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.
في الواقع، الطريقة الوحيدة التي قد ينجح بها ثنائي الهجوم هي أن يلعب صلاح وويرتز كتوأم في خط وسط مربع - مثل كيفن دي بروين وإلكاي جوندوجان في مانشستر سيتي - مع تحمل جرافينبيرتش وأليكسيس ماك أليستر كل المسؤولية تقريبًا عن حماية الدفاع، ومسؤولية الظهيرين الهجوميين ميلوس كيركيز وجيرمي فريمبونج عن توفير العرض.
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 physicality and intensity of the Premier League. Salah, though, has no such excuse and his first touch has been worryingly poor.
A little patience will clearly be required with both players, so a significant change of role really doesn’t make much sense at the minute. They should be allowed to find their form in their preferred positions.
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.
يمكن للمرء بسهولة تصور تألق إيكيتيكي على الجانب الأيسر من خط هجوم ثلاثي ضيق، نظرًا لميله للتحرك على الأطراف. ومثل جاكبو، الذي لعب في البداية بشكل أساسي في وسط الملعب بعد انضمامه من آيندهوفن، وإيزاك أيضًا، يتميز إيكيتيكي بمهاجم عصري ومتحرك، يحب الاختراق إلى الداخل بقدمه اليمنى المفضلة، ويمكنه تبادل التمريرات بانتظام مع إيزاك، الذي يجيد أيضًا التحرك في القنوات.
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.
The arrival of Isak certainly isn’t good news for Federico Chiesa either. The Italian seemed destined to depart this summer after seeing so little game time last season, but managed to work his way back into Slot’s plans as a back-up for Ekitike. He has been brought on in all three of Liverpool’s Premier League outings so far and even hit the crucial third goal in the opening-day win over بورنموث في أنفيلد.
However, with Isak now on board, it’s unlikely that we’ll be seeing much of Chiesa through the middle in the closing stages of games anymore.
Truth be told, we might not be seeing very much of him at all, given teenage sensation Rio Ngumoha has emerged as a viable option on the left flank and Slot always seems reluctant to substitute Salah even when he’s playing poorly. The latter will, of course, be away for at least three weeks in winter due to Egypt’s participation in the Africa Cup of Nations, but it honestly wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see the incredibly offensive Frimpong selected on the right wing ahead of Chiesa during Salah’s absence.
Obviously, Ngumoha’s need for minutes is less pressing than that of Chiesa, who is hoping to earn an Azzurri recall in time for the 2026 World Cup, and the youngster was among the first to celebrate the signing of Isak. However, he’s entitled to also feel a little disappointed by the prospect of featuring in fewer Premier League games than he would have expected after making a decisive and historic contribution off the bench in the dramatic 3-2 win at Newcastle on matchday two.
Getting into the team ahead of the in-form Gakpo was going to be tough enough as it was – but the knock-on effect from the Isak deal is that Ngumoha is now also likely to have Ekitike ahead of him in queue to start on the left wing, meaning the former Chelsea ace will have to be content with appearances in the domestic cup competitions.
It’s clear, then, that Slot will have to strike more of a balancing act this season – but more regular rotation will be no bad thing. On the contrary, it should aid Liverpool’s hopes of not only retaining their English title but also conquering Europe.
During their record-equalling 20th champions success, Slot pretty much relied on the same 13-14 players week-in and week-out – and having such a settled side undoubtedly contributed to the consistency that enabled the Reds to run away with the league. However, it also led to fatigue during the second half of 2024-25 – most notably during the week in which Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain and upset by Isak’s Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final.
Indeed, it was clear during that latter defeat at Wembley that Liverpool were missing a prolific No.9. With Isak and Ekitike on board, Slot suddenly has two, creating the kind of welcome selection headache that Howe so desperately wanted.
