Arne Slot has said Alexander Isak‘s record British transfer fee was ‘part of Liverpool’s model’ and explained how they were able to spend the £125 million on their new striker.
Liverpool’s net spend came to over £230m this summer, not taking into account the £35m Aston Villa will pay for Harvey Elliott next year.
Only Arsenal accumulated a higher net spend in a transfer window that was Liverpool’s most prolific in terms of money spent.
Slot thinks there is precedent at Anfield for their big-money moves, though.
The Dutchman said: “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.”
Before the summer, Liverpool were in a very healthy position financially, owing to a combination of increased prize money, player sales and only signing Federico Chiesa last summer.
• READ: Why Liverpool could spend BIG on transfers this summer
The Reds did also pay £114.5m across the 2023/24 season in player amortisation costs – that is the amount Liverpool were still paying in transfer fees for players bought in previous windows.
While £114.5m may sound a lot, it was the fifth-highest in the Premier League during this period. The club’s accounts haven’t been published for 2024/25, but we know that the amortisation figure shouldn’t have increased.
In comparison, Chelsea faced £190m of amortisation costs for the 2023/24 season and accumulated a smaller turnover than Liverpool by £145.3m.
Alexander Isak is not ‘best in the world’ yet – but he can be
Of course, the main reason Liverpool could justify their spending on Isak comes from the fact that he is ready made to score goals at an elite rate.
Slot told media including the Liverpool Echo: “At this moment he isn’t [the best striker in the world] for the simple reason he has been out for four months.
“If you write I said he is not the best in the world, you have to add that 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.”
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