Alexander Isak’s medical report at Liverpool includes detail that Newcastle United won’t appreciate
Alexander Isak’s injury record at Newcastle did not scare Liverpool off when splashing the cash on his services but his former club will feel aggrieved at a new update on the Reds plans to fix his issues.
Alexander Isak‘s potential move away from Newcastle was one that completely dominated the headlines throughout the summer transfer window.
The Swedish striker played no part in the Magpies’ first two Premier League games as he stood firm in his desire to join Liverpool, and he also trained away from his teammates while the saga was ongoing, with Newcastle fans wholly incensed at the situation.
Things looked set to be resolved as the deadline edged ever closer, after Football Insider revealed on Thursday (28 August) that Liverpool were increasingly confident of signing Isak before the window slammed shut.
Isak sealed his move to Liverpool on deadline day (Monday, 1 September) for a British transfer record fee of £125million [BBC], and he is now aiming to get up to speed ahead of a potential debut for the club next weekend at Burnley.
Liverpool confident they can improve Alexander Isak’s injury record
With the amount of money spent to sign Isak, Liverpool will be hopeful that he can be available for the vast majority of the time he is at the club, despite a chequered injury history at St James’ Park.
According to a new report from the Sunday Mirror (7 September), Isak’s injury record became a cause of concern for chiefs as they attempted to negotiate terms late on in the window, but their fitness staff were perfectly happy with his physical state and informed the higher-ups that spending such a fee would be no issue.
In fact, the report states that Liverpool’s sport scientists think they can improve Isak’s injury record to ensure he misses as few games as possible, which will aggravate those at Newcastle who had to watch him sit out of a number of matches in the three years he was at the club.
He will reportedly be under close observation after returning from international duty with Sweden, while the Mirror state that a specialist training plan has already been drawn up by the Reds as Isak aims to build up his match fitness following a summer of isolation on Tyneside.
A detailed look at Alexander Isak’s Newcastle United injury history
Football Insider verdict
Liverpool had every right to be concerned with Isak’s injury record, as it does not make for great reading from his time at Newcastle all the way back to when he was emerging out of Borussia Dortmund‘s reserve side.
According to Transfermarkt, he was sidelined for 23 games in just two seasons with the German giants’ senior side, while he then missed a further five games in one term at Real Sociedad.
| Season | Injury | Time missed | Games missed |
| 22/23 | Thigh | 107 days | 18 |
| 23/24 | Groin | 31 days | 8 |
| 23/24 | Groin | 25 days | 4 |
| 24/25 | Broken toe | 34 days | 7 |
| 24/25 | Hamstring | 4 days | 1 |
| 24/25 | Groin | 5 days | 1 |
His issues were much more prevalent at Newcastle, though, as he sat out of 18 games in his first season at the club with a thigh problem, then missed 12 matches in 2023/24 with numerous issues, and a further nine last term due to a broken toe and groin and hamstring injuries [Transfermarkt].
He often missed months at a time at St James’ Park, which in turn caused him to miss so many games, but that issue would be exemplified even further at Liverpool as they usually play in more competitions for longer than Newcastle, and so play more matches across a whole campaign.