Virgil van Dijk dismisses Alexander Isak claim as fresh Liverpool transfer verdict delivered
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Virgil van Dijk(Image: (Molly Darlington/Getty Images))Virgil van Dijk believes Alexander Isak was a vital signing for Liverpool and not a luxury addition.
The forward moved to the Reds on transfer deadline day in a deal worth £125m.
The Sweden international joined Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Giovanni Leoni, Armin Pesci and Freddie Woodman in making the move to Anfield during the summer transfer window as the Reds spent over £400m on new recruits.
Arne Slot has overseen an almost complete overhaul of the attack that won the title last season.
Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott all left the club while, tragically, Diogo Jota died in a car crash.
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Liverpool have won all four of their opening Premier League games, but Isak is yet to feature as he works his way up to full fitness after barely training over the summer while on strike at Newcastle.
The forward could feature against Atletico Madrid at Anfield on Wednesday, and Van Dijk shut down the suggestion that Isak was merely an addition to an already stacked squad.
“It's not really an addition – it's a replacement,” he said.
There will always be talks about that and that creates pressure, but it's down to him and us that we don't speak about it.
“Hopefully he will score a lot of goals, work hard and enjoy being the number nine for Liverpool and be important for the group with goals, assists and link-up play.”
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Asked what sort of impression Isak had made, the Liverpool skipper replied: “Very good.
Off the pitch, we have conversations, I've spoken to him in the international break when everything was sorted.
“It's about getting as fit as possible as quickly as possible and understanding how we train, how we press, set pieces.