Liverpool forward set for STARTING role after extraordinary decision | OneFootball

Liverpool have gone straight from the end of the summer transfer window into an international break and there are some important decisions that need to be made for Burnley (A) next week.

The squad that Arne Slot has to work with this season has finally been set in stone, that is until the January transfer window opens at least, and the quality of the players he has is extremely high.

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Most notably, Alexander Isak was signed from Newcastle on deadline day for a British transfer record fee of around £125m. Six players from the PFA team of the season are now wearing Red.

However, while the Swede is highly regarded as one of the best strikers in the world, he's coming into a side that already has an in-form Hugo Ekitike playing in it and since he's delivered three goals and an assist in his opening four games, it's going to be incredibly difficult to decide between them.

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While most of his players are away with their international sides, Slot has a real issue to resolve.

Ekitike might keep his place (for now)

Isak is the more high-profile of the two players and he's also two years older and Premier League proven, so the expectation is that the Swede will come in and become Liverpool's main striker.

After all, he's been given the famous No.9 shirt and the names affiliated with the number are insane.

If Slot were to pick Isak straight away, the decision would not be anything to do with Ekitike, since he's delivered a really pleasing start to his career on Merseyside, bringing fans on board right away.

But the Reds are in a peculiar position, having two strikers that are of such remarkable quality. Isak's prolific track-record and Ekitike's opening salvo suggest that we have two of the world's elite.

However, the situations each player finds themselves in right now are very different and at least for the short-term, you feel as though Slot's judgement call has partly been made for him already.

In Sweden's drawn 2-2 contest against Slovenia on Friday night, Liverpool fans were hoping to catch a glimpse of Isak, but he only managed to feature on the substitute bench for the 90 minutes.

Given how under-par both Viktor Gyokeres and Anthony Elanga's performances were, you felt it was an extraordinary decision to not give Isak any minutes at all, even despite his lack of match fitness.

But it is that context which must have precluded him from an appearance. After all, if he's not ready then playing him could have resulted in him developing a completely unnecessary injury. As such, you feel as though it might take some time before he's deemed fully ready to get some minutes.

After the match, the Swedish coach Jon Dahl Tomasson said: "Over the past three months, he hasn't played a single match. He's only managed three training sessions with us. He needs training and time, but unfortunately, he's not fully ready yet. If he could, he'd play every minute."

It's just that last sentence that gives you plenty of optimism for the future, knowing that he's irreplaceable in his national team and the huge difference he can make to Slot's Liverpool team.

But Ekitike is currently being backed as the Reds' main striker and that won't change, for now. Although it's also right that Isak will have to take it off him, when he's back fit. Regardless of what we make of the Swede, it's unlikely that an in-form player will be dropped in order to facilitate him.