Arne Slot makes Liverpool promise after £125m Alexander Isak transfer - 'Write this down for every agent'

Slot

Arne Slot has dismissed concerns of Alexander Isak one day going on strike at Liverpool.

The Reds boss has insisted the club has always helped facilitate moves for those who want to leave Anfield.

And Slot, who could hand the £125m striker his debut at Burnley on Sunday, has outlined what made Liverpool make the Sweden international the most expensive footballer in British history from Newcastle United on transfer deadline day.

A summer-long saga saw Isak first refuse to fly out on Newcastle's tour of the Far East by citing a minor injury in July before he returned to training by using the facilities of former club Real Sociedad without the knowledge of Magpies chiefs.

The 25-year-old was subsequently banished from the squad by former boss Eddie Howe before an explosive statement that spoke of broken promises and lost trust was published on Isak's social media accounts

just moments after he was included in the PFA's Team of the Year at an event he didn't attend at Manchester Opera House on August 19.

The two clubs eventually agreed an eye-watering fee of £125m on August 31 and the attacker completed his medical the following day before flying out on international duty, where he made his first appearance since May in Sweden's 2-0 defeat to Kosovo on Monday evening.

Asked if he feared similarly controversial efforts from Isak to leave Liverpool, who he joined on a six-year deal on September 1,

Slot said: "No, not at all. It is not necessary at our club because we also trade players.

“If a player wants to leave and we get the right money for him then this club has shown for so many years now that we then do sell.

“At this club it is not necessary at all to go on strike. I think it will have the opposite effect.

"You can keep on training here and Harvey Elliott gets his transfer (to Aston Villa), Tyler Morton gets his transfer (to Lyon).

“There were maybe eight-nine-10 players in the last window who just conducted themselves in the best possible way and we are a club that is trading so maybe write this down for every agent that has a player here: it is not necessary.

"If the right price is paid by the right club for the right player then this club has shown we always do sell because we need this to get our players in.

“That is different. That is a very positive thing at this club: you get your transfer if everyone is happy."

“Isak is not expected to start when the champions are entertained by Burnley on Sunday afternoon having played just 18 minutes since May, but Slot expects the new No.9 to show why he is recognised as one of the best frontmen around when fully fit.

"At this moment in time, he isn’t [the best striker in the world] - for the simple reason he has been out for four months,"

the Reds boss added. "If you write I said he is not the best in the world, you have to add that [bit] or it is not completely fair because he is one of the best in the world.

"But for him to become the best in the world, I think the best players in the world win trophies and that is what he and we need to do for him, or someone else, to be seen as the best or one of the best.

"I think [there are] many reasons [why we signed him] but one that maybe stands out for me is that he has already shown this in the Premier League and I think he is the only exception we made in terms of signing, he is a little bit older than the rest – still quite young but a bit older and showed himself in the Premier League.

"We know that if he stays fit, he will be able to score goals for us.

“What he adds as well is enormous pace and he can score with both feet, with his head, all these kinds of things, that he has already done this in the Premier League is of course something extra.”

"It might put pressure on him and me but nothing extra but if have this [Liverpool badge] on your shirt there is always pressure,

“if we wouldn’t have signed him, you would probably have told me that you still expect us to compete for the league, which is what we expect from ourselves so this pressure is always there.

"In terms of the money spent for one player, that is also part of our model. It is not the first time we have done this.

"We did it when I was not there, the ownership did this with Virgil, with Alisson and now with Florian Wirtz now as well, this is the model we use.

"We target a player and we want to have him. We decide what his value is, if that matches with what the club wants then we are not afraid to act.

"We get that money from trading players and winning the league after we didn’t spend anything at all."

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