Alexander Isak Repays £125m Fee After Broken Leg and Four-Goal Debut Year

• Alexander Isak has scored six of Liverpool’s 11 Premier League goals this season, and only Erling Haaland has more in the division.
• The Sweden striker joined from Newcastle for a British record £125m in August 2025 but scored just four goals in 22 games before breaking a leg in December.
• Liverpool beat Brighton 2-0 at Anfield, their fourth win in a row, and move up to fourth ahead of a meeting with Arsenal.

Liverpool Waited Patiently for Isak, and Now He Is Delivering

It has taken a long time, but Alexander Isak looks to be repaying the biggest fee in British football history. The Sweden striker scored again for Liverpool on Sunday, and the goal against Brighton took his tally for the campaign to six.

Those six goals make up more than half of Liverpool’s 11 league goals this season. At 27, Isak is averaging almost a goal a game, with 0.95 per 90 minutes in the Premier League. Only Haaland, with nine, has scored more.

A £125m Signing Who Struggled Through Year One

Isak arrived at Anfield in August 2025 with huge fanfare, signed from Newcastle for a British record £125m. His first season turned into something close to a nightmare. A slow start gave way to a broken leg in December, and he finished with four goals in 22 games.

The belief inside the club, as BBC Sport reports it, was that this was a long-term signing and that any judgement should wait until he was fully fit. Recent form suggests that patience was warranted.

Barcola Wins the Ball, Isak Finishes

The goal came from the high press that Andoni Iraola wants. Bradley Barcola won the ball back and Isak finished instinctively. Barcola then copied Isak’s celebration, as the pair also did at Brentford last weekend. Together they cost Liverpool a total of £248m.

Iraola said the service is what drives his striker. “Alex [Isak] is threatening, especially if we can get him in those positions and we can provide him good crosses,” the manager said, adding that in this case it was “a matter of Bradley [Barcola] winning the duel and being faster than the opposition”.

Isak was pleased with the afternoon as a whole. “Today, the performance was really good against a really good team,” he said. Of the opening half, he said it was “really what we want to be about”.

Liverpool Win Without the Ball

Brighton had 64% of the possession and finished with a higher xG than Iraola’s side, yet Liverpool saw the game out. Their own possession of 35.6% was the second lowest on record in a Premier League home win, going back to 2003-04. Brighton had scored 15 league goals in their previous four games and created no major chances of note, apart from an early effort that Yasin Ayari blazed over.

Ronald Araujo was again immense at the back, and Liverpool kept a fourth clean sheet in eight league games. The 2-0 win was a fourth in a row after the home defeat by Manchester City a fortnight ago. It also gave Iraola his first league win at Anfield at the fourth attempt.

Barcola and Florian Wirtz were both excellent, and Cody Gakpo threatened throughout. Wirtz was unlucky not to be credited with the opening goal, which took a deflection off Pascal Gross. Wirtz went off in the second half with what Iraola called “a small twist of the ankle”. The manager said it “doesn’t look very big” but that the team plays every three days, so they need to see where he is.

The Next Test Is Arsenal

Liverpool are fourth in the table, and Arsenal are next in the league. Isak is, in the view of the reporter at Anfield, nowhere near his best yet, which is a worry for the rest of the top flight.