Virgil van Dijk dismisses Alexander Isak claim with first Liverpool impression made

Virgil van Dijk has insisted that Alexander Isak was a vital signing for Liverpool in the summer transfer window, not a luxury addition. The defending Premier League champions turned heads over the summer by splashing over £450million on new players.

Isak was the headline arrival, joining for £125m from Newcastle on deadline day, after a long and arduous saga. He joined Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Giovanni Leoni, Armin Pesci and Freddie Woodman at the club.

Arne Slot has overseen an almost complete overhaul of the attack which won the title in his debut season, with Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott leaving and Diogo Jota tragically dying in a car crash. They have started the campaign with four straight wins to sit top of the Premier League without the help of Isak.

The Swedish striker is fighting to get to full fitness after barely training over the summer while on strike at Newcastle. Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s first Champions League game of the season, against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, Van Dijk bristled at the suggestion that Isak was merely an addition to an already stacked squad.

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“It's not really an addition – it's a replacement,” Van Dijk said. “Players with a lot of quality left us and we had to replace them as they were important for us and we had successes.

“We have no control over the price tag. There will always be talks about that and that creates pressure, but it's down to him and us that we don't speak about it. Hopefully he will score a lot of goals, work hard and enjoy being the number nine for Liverpool and be important for the group with goals, assists and link-up play.”

Isak sat out of Sweden’s 2-2 draw with Slovenia during the international break before making an unsuccessful cameo off the bench in their defeat by Kosovo. He was left out of the Liverpool squad which clinched a 1-0 win at Burnley on the weekend, with Slot deeming his fitness not up to the requirements yet, but has made the squad to face Atleti and Van Dijk says he has impressed on the training pitch.

Asked what sort of impression Isak had made, the Liverpool captain replied: “Very good. Very eager, the quality has been shown already. Only positives. Off the pitch, we have conversations, I've spoken to him in the international break when everything was sorted.

“It's about getting as fit as possible as quickly as possible and understanding how we train, how we press, set pieces. It has been a good week for him. Let's see about tomorrow.”

Isak netted 27 times for Newcastle last season before burning his bridges at St James’ Park. Van Dijk is excited to see how he settles in a red shirt, while competing with Ekitike for a starting berth.

“He is a clinical finisher, heading, left, right, top corners, he is the complete striker at the moment,” he said of Isak. “You can say the same for Hugo. They are a little bit different but not as much, they both have so much quality and are very comfortable on the ball and can link up players and have pace.

“That's what is being asked of the modern day striker. Both are a handful. Good they are on my side. Hopefully they can show that to the opponent.”

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