The 2025-26 season has not gone as Alexander Isak or anyone in Red would have hoped for the Sweden international striker who signed from Newcastle in the summer for a record £125M fee. As a result of the drawn
out transfer saga, Isak arrived late in the window without a pre-season.
With the team then playing two games a week through the autumn, there was little opportunity to give him something resembling one. As a result, it took until December before he started to look as though he might just be nearing full match fitness. Then, he suffered a serious injury, a broken leg.
“Gutted to be out for a while,” Isak said on social media after news of a likely three-month layoff became public. “Time to recover and support from the sideline. I will work hard to be back as soon as I possibly can. Thank you all Reds and everyone else for the kind messages, it does not go unnoticed.”
Isak isn’t expected to be back in full training with teammates until towards the end of March, at which point he will be back to square one looking to regain match fitness and likely be limited to occasional substitute minutes and few will be expecting him to make a significant impact this season.
His injury may also likely keep him out of Sweden’s World Cup qualification play-off, where their Nations League success means they can still salvage a dire qualification showing with a quarter-final play-off against Ukraine and, should they win, a final against another qualification under-performer.
