Its been the summer of strikers striking. No picket lines, of course, but plenty of not available to be picked. Yoane Wissa forced his will at Brentford, Viktor Gyokeres played hard ball at Sporting, but the shop steward of disruption was without doubt Alexander Isak.
To force his move from Newcastle to Liverpool he withdrew his labour for 14 weeks. Three months of training alone and not playing. Transfer Centre LIVE! | Latest on YOUR PL club!Got Sky? Watch now on the Sky Sports app📱Not got Sky? Get instant access with no contract📺He turned red to become a red, and he hated every second of it because, in the end, no matter how big they are or how much they earn, all footballers really want to do is be out there.
They want to be out there on the pitch, out there on the training ground and out there with their teammates. Isak smiling again with Sweden Of course, none of us actually saw Isak this summer but I can guarantee you there wouldnt have been much smiling.
Thats why the first thing his Sweden head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson said after watching Isak train for the first time in a long time as part of a group was: Hes smiling. Have you seen his face? Hes so happy to be here.
That tells you a lot about how much he really likes being in a group. I saw that Isak smile in Stockholm too. It was a big, happy, wide smile. Even bigger than the one on his face 24 hours earlier as he posed in his new Liverpool No 9 shirt.
I think the stress of a difficult summer and the exhaustion of a long deadline day was showing in those images. He certainly looked drained as I watched him arrive at the Swedish team hotel at 1.15 am on Tuesday.
Ten hours later however, it looked like a weight had lifted off his very expensive shoulders. Isak champing at the bit to get going With his team-mates at the training ground in the rural Lidingö area of Stockholm, he started with some gym work.
Journalists had been warned not to bank on seeing him. He may opt to stay away from the spotlight and continue with his own special fitness programme indoors we were told. Not a bit of it. After so long training alone he was clearly champing at the bit to be in full training with everyone else.
He smiled as he came down the steps from the gym. There were about a dozen steps. He jumped down the final three, desperate to get going. Out there, at last, with his teammates. Doing what he was born to do.
Hes made clear to Tomasson that hes not just going to train. He wants to play some part in Swedens World Cup Qualifiers against Slovenia and Kosovo. Tomasson calls him a game changer and says he WILL get minutes, but after conversations with Arne Slot and the Liverpool medical and physical staff hes promising not to take risks with Isak.
We are not going to do stupid things with him. But we have a plan, Tomasson said. Normally in pre-season you have plenty of training and plenty of games. This is not the case with Alex. He is a game changer.
But can he play 90 minutes? Of course not. Gyokeres backing for Isak Tomasson has got options so will be careful with Isak, but he knows his team is better with him. He likes to play two strikers in Isak and Gyokeres.
Two strikers in more ways than one these days. Gyokeres has hit back at the striker tag. He disagrees with the notion that player power has gone too far. He said this week that whats seen as acceptable behaviour by clubs should be seen as fair play by players.
The clubs have the most power. Its difficult for players to choose (their futures) in a lot of cases, he told me. When a player is not wanted by a club its the total opposite. He doesnt have any power.
The club can do whatever they want with a player so its difficult. Thats how the situation is. After his messy departure from Sporting he knows better than most what its been like for Isak. Is he relieved the transfer window is closed? Yes of course, he said.
Thats what you want. Its not really something you want to be stuck in forever. Isak says hear, hear to that, Im sure. All the Sweden players I spoke to this week have been fully supportive of Isaks determined stand this summer.
Hes got one big fan in the squad in particular. Celtics summer signing Benjamin Nygren plans on spending quite a lot of time with Isak. Im looking forward to playing him in his Liverpool kit on FIFA, he said.
We wont see Isak in a Liverpool kit for real until at least next Sunday at Burnley, live on Sky Sports. His time with Sweden is being well utilised in the meantime as he gets ready physically and mentally for that much-anticipated Liverpool debut.
