Liverpool star is becoming the new Naby Keita

It’s been a case of out with the old and in with the new at Liverpool this summer, with Andoni Iraola kicking off a new era following Arne Slot’s belated exit from the Anfield dugout.

Gone too are the experienced, long-serving trio of Andy Robertson, Ibrahima Konate and Mohamed Salah, the side that claimed Premier League glory in 2024/25 having been swiftly dismantled.

On a brighter note, Jeremy Jacquet has finally arrived to join Victor Munoz in the door, with it yet to be seen whether there will be anywhere close to the level of spending that was witnessed last summer.

First and foremost, Iraola might want to assess his charges, with the ongoing World Cup also providing the Spaniard the opportunity to get a closer look at a raft of the Reds’ first-team stars.

How Liverpool stars have fared at this summer’s World Cup

Back in 2014, there were as many as five Liverpool players in the England squad, with Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert also arriving post-tournament.

This time around, no such luck for Curtis Jones and co, with only Rio Ngumoha getting a taste of Thomas Tuchel’s squad, having been involved in pre-World Cup preparations.

Elsewhere, meanwhile, Wataru Endo was forced to pull out of Japan’s squad through injury, while Florian Wirtz was part of the Germany side that crashed out in the first knockout round against Paraguay.

Alisson and Brazil did book their place in the next round, while Alexis Mac Allister’s Argentina are in line to face Cape Verde, yet there was further woe for the club’s Netherlands contingent.

There were emotional scenes as Cody Gakpo, following personal tragedy, opened the scoring against Morocco, although both he and Ryan Gravenberch ended up on the losing side after another nail-biting shootout.

It didn’t require penalties in another marquee match-up earlier this week, however, with Alexander Isak‘s Sweden soundly beaten by France to continue the striker’s long-standing woes.

Why Liverpool’s big-money star is heading toward Naby Keita territory

It looked like this summer could be the chance for Isak to start to right the wrongs of a wretched first season at Anfield, the ex-Newcastle United man having been set back by a lack of pre-season as well as a cruel leg break in 2025/26.

Signed for a club-record £125m fee, the 26-year-old simply hasn’t come close to looking like the player who ran defences ragged at St James’ Park, ending last term with only three Premier League goals to his name.

A fresh start with his country did initially get off to a strong beginning after netting in the warm-up game against Norway, having then racked up two assists and a goal in the opening group game.

That marked something of a false dawn against an admittedly poor Tunisia side, with Isak and co subsequently hit for five by the Netherlands, prior to playing out a draw with Japan.

Across those latter two outings, he racked up 62 touches yet lost the ball 18 times, prior to putting in an even more worrying display against France last time out.

Now, this was a truly one-sided game, but Isak didn’t exactly aid Graham Potter’s side, barely involved at all as Les Bleus ran riot at the other end.

In the view of journalist Sacha Tavolieri, he was “absolutely catastrophic” in attack, having lost the ball six times from just 21 touches, while failing to register a single key pass.

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That doesn’t bode well for Iraola and co next season, with it difficult to say that Isak has proved worth the wait, after such a drawn out summer saga.

There are certainly parallels to one of the prior record deals of the Jurgen Klopp era, in the form of Naby Keita, with the then-RB Leipzig midfielder snapped up in the summer of 2017, albeit while only arriving on Merseyside a year later.

Expectations were certainly high at the time, and not just because of the transfer fee, with Keita even taking on the famed number eight shirt at Anfield.

What followed was largely five years of injury woe for the Guinean, a player who could turn it on when fit and firing, yet having rarely ever enjoyed consistent game time.

In all, he never got beyond 16 league starts in a single season, largely proving a bystander to proceedings in the title-winning 2019/20 campaign, having made only nine top-flight starts that year.

It is still early days for Isak, but the alarm bells are already ringing, with it yet to be seen whether he can shake off his recent woes to become the player who looked so devastating in a Newcastle shirt.

Patience is needed, but on the evidence of his performances in the last few weeks for Sweden, this doesn’t exactly look like a player who will be raring to go when the Premier League resumes next month.